Light of Remnant
by Maestro of Madness
Summary: Everyday we get pushed around. And sometimes, we get pushed to far. That's when we let some of our Rage out. This was the time I got pushed to far. Now Rage is all I know. Probably doesn't help that this weird ring is helping fuel that Rage though.
1. An Arc's Rage

**Light of Remnant**

 **Ch 1 An Arc's Rage**

How did things go so wrong? Beacon only started up 3 weeks ago an everything is already coming undone. Earlier in the week I told my partner, Pyrrha Nikos, that I faked my way into Beacon. She was upset with me for lying to her and left me alone on the roof top where I sulked to myself believing I just ruined my chances at making friends with my team for good.

Then things got worse. Cardin Winchester, the tool that had been picking on me ever since the school year started overheard my reveal from his room, which was right below the roof top. He threatened to tell the Headmaster if I didn't become his goffer and do everything he said.

That's where my torment began. Every day, day in and day out for the rest of the week I did whatever Cardin told me to do. Whether it was doing his teams homework, doing their laundry, or just being a punching bag for them to knock around when they wanted to.

During this time, I ignored my team. Pyrrha hadn't told them yet about my fake transcripts so I could at least worry about that problem later. The class trip to Forever Fall was coming up and I hadn't had the opportunity to talk to Pyrrha as she either ignored me or I was working for Cardin.

During the trip, I was dragged off by Carding and his goons to collect the sap from the trees for their whole team. I thought it was strange that they needed so much but I didn't question it. I think I might be allergic to the sap. Part way through I started to have strange hallucinations and felt a little dizzy.

When I brought them the sap Cardin revealed his plan for the leftovers. He was going to throw the jars at Pyrrha for humiliating him in class earlier and sick some Rapier Wasps on her. He ordered me to throw the first jar. Could I do it? Could I really just throw this at my partner? Even if our relationship was rocky right now that didn't excuse attacking her.

I decided to go against Cardin's order. I wasn't going to allow him to hurt my partner any more than his whole incident has already. I chuck the jar ant Cardin as it breaks open and spills across his chest plate. It takes them all a moment to realize what I just did, but when they do Cardin picks me up by the collar.

"That was really stupid Arc. After I get done beating your face in I'm gonna go tell Goodwitch about your little transcript problem." He winds his punch back, ready to release it onto my face. "You're gonna regret you ever thought of becoming a Huntsmen! You never should have been one in the first place!"

" _Jaune please stop. You don't have the makings of a Huntsmen."_

Memories of my childhood flash before me. It's a talk that me and dad had had many times. Except this one was different.

" _But I really, really, reallllly wanna be a Huntsmen! I wanna be a hero and make you proud dad!"_

 _My father turns to look at me._

" _I'm sorry but no. You just can't cut it as a Huntsmen Jaune."_

" _Why not? Why can't I be one? I really want to. It's my dream. Please tell me why dad!"_

" _It's because you're weak! You aren't good enough to become a Huntsmen Jaune!"_

 _I just stood there, shocked at the fact that my dad just yelled at me that I'm too weak to ever be a Huntsmen._

 _My dad takes a moment to calm down before he turns away and begins to walk off. "I'm sorry son, but it's true. You're too weak to be a Huntsmen. Now stop this foolish talk and find another dream."_

That was the last time we ever talked about me training to be a Huntsmen. He turned his attention to my sisters that wanted to become Huntresses and focused on making them stronger. He left me alone for the most part and I didn't see much of him after that. He was either helping my sisters or going off on some Huntsmen expedition.

A few years later I decided I would show him. I would see that he was wrong and finally make him proud of me. That's part of the reason why I became a Huntsmen. And now I'm about to get my face broken for trying to follow that dream.

As Cardin's face inches closer, I harden any resolve I have to face it head on. This was my choice and I was going to deal with the consequences of my mistakes. When his fist was just an inch away from making contact a blinding white lighted appeared. It was hard to see but for a second I thought I saw a white bubble cover right before I got hit.

Cardin holds his hand in pain from his attempted punch. He regains his composer and goes in again for another one when suddenly, we hear a bestial roar from the brush nearby. Out steps an Ursa Major in all its blackened glory. The rest of team CRDL ran leaving Cardin and I alone with the Grimm.

It swipes it's claws at Cardin knocking away his mace as he tried to perform a flimsy block. The Ursa stands over Cardin, ready to kill him as it brings its claw up to crush the young Huntsmen-in-training.

I see a small rock nearby and chuck it at the beast. The Grimm turns to me, now focused on the one who attacked it.

'Okay…. Now what? I didn't really think this out.'

The creature charges at me in its fury and tries to swipe me with its paw. I'm able to dodge to the side as the Ursa over extends and runs past me.

'Alright I just need a plan. Come one brain think.' The memory of the white bubble comes to me as I try and think of ways to fight back. 'If I can just coat my sword in it I may be able to kill this thing. And if I fail…. Well better the to try and fail then never try at all.'

The Ursa charges again, ready tear through me if necessary. 'Okay focus. Come on you did it once before, you can do it again.' A white spectral light begins to envelope me. 'Okay good. Now just focus it onto my sword'

The light begins to wrap around my sword as the Ursa draws near.

'Now or never.' I bring my sword up in an arc to try and cleave the beasts head off. Except my strike was too short.

'Come on! Just a little bit farther!'

As if listening to my thoughts the white light shoots out from the blade to form a longer spectral sword that cleaves the Ursa's head clean off. The body of the now decapitated Grimm sails past me and begins to dissolve before it even hits the ground.

'I did it. I really just killed a Ursa Major by myself!'

Coming down from my excitement I turn to the cowering form of Cardin. The bully was still laid out on his butt, shocked at what he just witnessed.

"You know, I could've just left you to die. I could've let the Ursa kill you for everything you did to me. But then I would've been worse then you are. You may be an asshole Cardin, but that doesn't mean that you deserve to die."

I extend my hand to help him up. Be the better man and all that. "You can mess with me all you want, but if you ever mess with my team again I'll let the next Grimm finish the job."

That was it. It should've been a heartwarming moment. The bully realizes his fault and grows as a person. I would apologize to my team and tell them the truth. Things would be rocky but it would turn out alright. We would get through it as a team.

At least that's what should've happened.

Whether he was offended by my words of the fact that I had to save him I don't know. Cardin smacks away my hand and stands to glare down at me.

"You think you're better than me all of a sudden! Just because you killed one Grimm you're stronger than I am! Well you're wrong! You're nothing but a weakling!"

Pyrrha, Ruby and Weiss come bursting out onto the clearing. I guess the rest of team CRDL must have gotten help.

Cardin turns to acknowledge their presence and a wicked grin spreads across his face.

"I hope you're ready Jauney boy. You're about to see how worthless you really are." Cardin walks over to the girls with a cocky swagger as he addresses them. "Well you sure took your time. The big bad Ursa's already taken care of, by yours truly of course." He flexes his muscles to show off his phasic to them. "Ya it was pretty big but I took care of it no problem. Even had to save old Jauney boys life. The guy just cowered while I did all the work."

I wanted to call him out. Tell them the truth, that I was the one that killed the Ursa, but I was stopped in my tracks when he spoke up again, "Though I guess that's to be expected from someone who faked their way into Beacon."

* * *

That was how my situation went from being Cardin's lap dog to the most hated person at Beacon. Cardin went and told Ms. Goodwitch immediately after the incident was over. The combat instructor had a complicated expression, as though she knew something but choose not to say it. The ride back was harsh. I received glares from both my team and team RWBY.

Ren and Nora looked hurt for the most part, having a secret kept from them from someone they considered a friend hurt the two dearly. Pyrrha was no better. She couldn't even make eye contact with him as she simply looked at the floor the entire ride back.

Weiss was the most furious of them all. How dare someone lie and cheat their way into Beacon when so many others worked so hard for it. Yang thought so too, though to a lesser degree. She had trained for years at a combat school to be good enough to enter Beacon and all I did was get lucky with some false transcripts and snuck in. Blake seemed more or less indifferent to the whole thing. She wasn't thrilled by the revelation but she didn't necessarily shun me either. Basically, our relationship they had before.

Ruby on the other hand, she looked the most hurt. Her first friend she made at Beacon, the first person to reach out their hand and help her… has been a liar the entire time. The hurt expression was unbearable to look at.

I didn't have the guts to look at anyone. After we made it back to Beacon I was taken straight to the Headmasters office. The trip to the tower was dead quiet. Ms. Goodwitch didn't say a word, nothing of how angry she was or her disappointment. Her usual stern expression was the only emotion she let be seen.

"I am sorry to hear about this revelation Mr. Arc."

She finally spoke after we entered the elevator.

"… I'm sorry Ms. Goodwitch."

The words tasted bitter in my mouth. They were cold and heavy. I feel like they threatened to chock me with each syllable spoken.

"There is no need to apologize. The other professors and I were made aware of your false transcripts since the moment you entered." I was shocked to hear that. If the teachers knew then why even bother letting this ruse go on for so long?

"The Headmaster said that you had potential. I will admit that at first, I had my concerns. Beacon is supposed to be a school for those who had spent their lives training to become Huntsmen and Huntresses, not someone who believed they could fake their way in."

The shame that I felt in the pit of my stomach grew only deeper. To hear know it for myself was one thing. To hear it from someone else was infinitely different.

"But then you proved me wrong." I looked up from the ground to see the professor looking me straight in the eyes. "I saw what really happened with the Ursa. I know you were the one who defeated it."

A small bit of joy shined in the pit of self-loathing that I was trapped in. To hear that someone else knew what really happened was an amazing feeling.

"It doesn't matter though. It doesn't change the fact that everyone knows the truth now."

Our conversation ends abruptly when the sound of the elevator dings, signifying that we reached the top. We exit the elevator, though Ms. Goodwitch seemed like she wanted to say something. The Headmaster starred at the two of us as we entered the room with a solemn look on his face.

"I've heard a rather disturbing piece of gossip recently. I was wondering if it was true. Tell me Mr. Arc, have the others heard of your fake documents?"

I was silent for a moment. This was it. This wasn't just some bad dream. This was really happening. It wasn't until just now that the whole situation settled in.

"Yes sir. It's true, I faked my transcripts, though you already knew that."

"Yes. Yes, I did." The Headmaster was quiet for a moment, most likely letting everything sink in. "Tell me Mr. Arc, why did you think I did so?"

I look up to stare him in the eyes. The least I could do is show him some respect. "Ms. Goodwitch said it was because you saw potential in me. That you thought I could become better than I was, stronger. I'm sorry that things didn't pan out like you wanted."

Ozpin takes a sip of his coffee before speaking up again, "No, they didn't. Must say I'm rather disappointed in the actions of Mr. Winchester as well. I had hoped he would be humbled by this experience, but it seems I was wrong."

"Now then, on to the matter at hand. About our current position in my school." It was finally time. The moment I'm told to pack my things and leave. "While many would believe it to be best to sent you on your way home, I believe in second chances."

I stare in awe and the Headmasters words. What was he saying? Does he really mean what I think he means?

"From Professor Goodwitch's own account you have more than proven that you have made leaps and bounds from where you were a few weeks ago. It would be a shame to turn you away now."

"Does this mean… I can stay?"

A smile comes to the Headmasters lips as he nods in acknowledgment. "Yes, you can stay. If you so choose to of course. Though you may have some troubles seeing as the student body now has some contempt for you. Not to mention your own team."

A tinge of guilt cuts though my joy as I think back to my team. I lied to them. To all of them. Facing them and earning back their trust is going to be difficult.

"I know sir. They probably have some resentment towards me, but I'm gonna try and make it up to them."

The response seemed to please the man as he hums in approval. "Well then with that out of the way I believe our business is done here. You may return to your dorm Mr. Arc."

"I will sir, thank you." I make my way to the elevator and open the door to leave. "I promise you won't regret this sir. I'm gonna prove you right in your decision to let me stay."

"I'm sure you will young man."

With that the doors close.

But my torment did not.

* * *

I tried to talk to my team after wards but they did even want to see me. They shut me out of the room, not letting me inside. I tried to talk to them, but they didn't want to listen.

A week went by with no progress as my team continued to ignore me. Classes were hard as I sat alone for the most part. Glares all around me as students wondered why I was even allowed to stay. Lunch was the same so I decided to find some where to eat alone.

With no progress made with my team professor Ozpin came forward with a proposal. There was a village nearby that was asking for aid. A small Grimm horde, a few dozen or so, were approaching and they needed assistance evacuating. The Headmaster believed this would be a good opportunity to try and mend the rift with me and my team along with team RWBY.

We were sent out to help the village later that day to help. We helped villagers get evacuate on Bullheads. Though the others had no words for me still. Everything was going fine for the most part. Until a warning went out. Blake, Yang, Ren and Nora had been sent out to the perimeter of the village to be on the look-out for the Grimm horde.

The Grimm were coming fast, but it wasn't just a few dozen, it was a few **hundred**. The report must've been mistaken as the size was far greater than what we were prepared for. The villagers begin to panic as the sounds of the horde grew closer. Only about half of the village was evacuated so far and we wouldn't be out in time before the Grimm showed up.

I try and tell the others that we need to send some of us out to halt the Grimm before they get to close. Ruby and I head out to try assist the others at the perimeter to help with holding them off. The horde draws closer as a wave of Beowolves smash into us. We strike out to take down as many as we can, but for each one we take down 10 more show up.

This goes on for what seems like hours when we receive the call that the evacuation is done. There are a few stragglers left as another wave is seen in the distance fast approaching.

"We need to leave now. Ruby take the others back. I'll finish of these ones so they don't follow and join you when I'm done."

She looked concerned for a moment before her sister grabs her arm.

"Come on. We need to go. He says he's got this."

Yang looks to me for a moment before she runs off with the others to escape. Ruby looks back one last time. She races off as I stay behind to deal with the stragglers. It doesn't take long to finish them. Even since I used that weird while light in Forever Fall I tried to reproduce it, but to no avail.

After the Grimm were done I head off to escape with the others, the Grimm wave closing in behind me. I can see the village entrance through the trees. All I gotta do is make it to the other end of the village and jump into a Bullhead before the Grimm arrive.

That was… until I saw the last Bullhead take off.

The Grimm wave draws closer as I sink to my knees in despair.

'They… left me. They just left me behind.'

My despair turns to fear as the horde gets closer.

My fear turns to anger.

And my anger… turns to **Rage.**

The first Beowolf leaps and me from behind as I turn around, swinging my sword.

'The left me! They abandoned me to **die**!'

Another lunge at me from my left as I use m shield to block.

'Was I not worth it!? Was I not worth the time it took to wait!?'

I stab into the skull of the beast and pull it out, turning to fate the remaining Grimm.

* * *

 **Deep in space**

( **Rage detected)**

 **(Adjusting course for sector 2815)**

 **Back on Remnant**

* * *

One after another the Grimm attack me. My shield was knocked away some time ago.

I didn't need it anymore.

I was too angry to care. All I thought about was killing everything in sight.

Again, and again I strike at the Grimm, but it didn't matter. They just kept coming.

Eventually my sword gets stuck in the side of an Ursa.

The giant demented bear knocks me aside into a wall.

I get up to strike out with my fists. Beating into the skull of the Grimm.

'Am I just not good enough!? Huh!'

I smash the Ursa's skull open, but I feel my aura deplete as my fists start to bleed.

'Not good enough!'

'NOT GOOD ENOUGH!'

I repeat the words like a chant over and over again. I eventually have nothing left. Nothing but my rage. That! I know is still burning.

As the Grimm surround me ready to finish me off something odd happens. A red light shines down on me from the sky as a small object floats down towards me.

 **(Jaune Arc of Remnant)**

 **(You possess great Rage in your heart)**

The object, now identified as a ring floats down and slips onto my finger. The next thing I know everything goes red.


	2. New Friends

**Light of Remnant**

 **Ch 2 New Friends**

 **AN/ Hey everyone Maestro here. Just wanted to say thanks for reading this. My full note will be at the bottom. Enjoy the story** **.**

Oh man. This hurts. It feels like someone just cracked a building over my skull. I look down to my hand the ring slipped itself on. 'What the hell is this thing? How is it doing this?' My mind races as I look at the red light shining off me.

No longer am I wearing the simple chest-piece-hoodie combo. Now I'm decked out in full on plate armor. The finger-tips of my new gauntlets are sharp like claws. Running up my arms to my shoulders is fully plated red armor. On my chest is a weird symbol like the one on the ring. I feel some weight on my back and turn to see a long flowing, tattered, black cape. **(1)** I can feel something warm in my coming up my throat into my mouth. I spit out whatever it was that came out to see my own blood. Except… it was burning the ground. 'Did my blood just light the ground on fire?'

A growl calls out behind me and I turn, reminded of the horde of Grimm that surround me. I'm remember how I got into this situation. I was abandoned. Left behind by the people I tried to help. The people I wanted to make amends with. I tried everything to make things right! AND THEY LEFT ME TO DIE!

When I remember that I leap out at the Grimm in front of me. In the back of my mind I know this will probably get me killed. But I don't care. I just want something to hit. I caulk my arm back to punch the nearest Beowolf in the face and punch right through its skull. Before it can dissolve I grab its two lanky arms and pull them from the already dead body.

I jump over to the nearest Grimm and shove my hands inside. I grip the bottom and top of its mouth and rip its head in half. I continue to tear through the horde one by one, lost in my rage, flailing blindly at whatever I see move.

I hear something fly overhead and look up to see a Nevermore, even bigger than the one during initiation. If I was in my right mind I would think that it may be the leader of this horde. But I'm not. All I know is that something new has shown up. Something new to take my anger out on.

While I'm distracted with the Nevermore overhead I'm struck from behind by a Beowolf. I can feel it's claws strike my back. The weird thing is though, I can't even feel any pain from it. It's almost like someone threw a pillow at me.

Still doesn't mean I'm not pissed off. I turn to the offending Grimm and feel my mouth start to heat up. I can feel the mortar blood from earlier spew from my mouth and cover the Beowolf. I watch as the blood begins to burn the beast from head to toe. I feel like it would melt into a puddle of… well… whatever their made of if it didn't already start to dissolve.

"… Wow." The first solid words I say and all I can say is wow. Trying to think straight with this ring on has been hard. Every time I feel like I gain control of myself something else makes me angry and I… I just lose it.

*CAW*

The Nevermore calls out from above as it begins to launch a rain of feathers. I try and put my hands up to block them. I think back to when I made those white projections and try again to reproduce it again. As the feathers draw closer my projection continues to fail.

'Come one you stupid piece of shit power, semblance, whatever! WORK!'

I begin to feel my rage begin to boil in my stomach. When I feel like it can't be held back anymore I feel it shoot out of my ring. A projection of a shield finally appears, except this time it was red.

The feathers bounce harmlessly of the projection and the storm of feathers passes. I drop shield and look into the sky to spot the overgrown bird circling around.

 **(With blood and rage of crimson red)**

A voice, low and raspy echoes in my head.

 **(Ripped from a corpse so freshly dead)**

The voice continues, only this time it was louder.

 **(Together with our hellish hate, we'll burn you all)**

"That is your fate."

The words spill out before I realize what I'm even saying. Where are these words coming from? I'm cut off from my train of thought as the Nevermore makes another pass. This time I'm ready. If I can make a projection of a shield, why not something else?

I imagine a sniper, long barrel with a scope and bullet in the chamber. If I'm right then this should work. I take aim at the overgrown bird and fire a round, clipping it's right wing. The Nevermore begins to lose control with its wing damaged and falls into a tail spin, crashing onto the ground.

I make my way over to the crash site and see the beast trying to recover. It screams at the sight of me and tries to flap it's other wing and me to no avail as it's pinned under it. I use the opportunity to finish it while I can.

I race up towards the downed bird and stop in front of its giant beak. It caws at me again but this time before it can close its mouth I put my foot on the bottom jaw and push up with my hands on the upper jaw.

Unable to close its mouth the Nevermore flails about, desperately trying to shake me off. But it's too late. My plan's already in motion. I feel the mortar blood rise to my throat and erupt from my mouth. Straight down the creature's gullet.

It flails more as the molten liquid enters its throat, but it soon dies out as the fire courses through the rest of its body. Stopping my attack, I step out of the jaw to let it close and inspect my work.

Looking down the rest of the body I notice that half of it is dissolving, while the other half is going up in flames. I look to the perimeter of the crash site to see the remainders of the horde looking on.

I expect them to try and jump in and mob me, but all they do is turn around and run. They must've realized they couldn't beat me. With the Grimm taken care of I walk over to a nearby stream to get something to drink. And maybe stop this burning sensation.

As I throw my head into the stream I come back up to notice my reflection. I already knew about the armor, but my face is a different story. My eyes are no longer the deep ocean blue they once were. Now they're red, like the deepest pits of fire you hear about in stories. Blood is dripping from my mouth, most likely leftovers from the bit I spewed into the Nevermore.

Falling back on my butt I take a moment to assess the situation. One moment I'm left behind to die, still pissed about that to no end. The next thing I know some ring comes out of nowhere and turns me into a metal looking, Grimm destroying wrecking machine.

Looking above the trees I notice that smoke is coming from the now abandoned village. Probably from the fire blood I was spewing everywhere.

"Whoops."

As I relax I begin to feel something calling to me. It's not a voice. More like somethings pulling at me. Suddenly, I feel rage flood out through my body and my ring begins to pull me upwards. Next thing I know I'm being pulled into the sky. I'm actually flying! Sorta.

The ring keeps pulling me higher and higher until I no longer see a blue sky. Now all I see is the infinite blackness of space, the stars shining like street lights in the distance. How can this be happening? I'm no science buff but I did learn that the reason we could never get a rocket into space was because Dust didn't work past the atmosphere.

Which means this ring doesn't work on Dust, but something else. Kinda fits with everything that it can do. Never heard of any Dust that made you spit fire at people. Throw it sure, but spitting it is another thing.

The ring takes me deeper into space, the lights of the stars turn into blurs as I accelerate faster than anything on Remnant ever has. I continue for a few more minutes until I spot a red planet approaching quickly.

As I break entry I notice I'm approaching the surface fast. I also wasn't slowing down any.

"Oh, crap baskets."

* * *

"You think you need a new leader, go ahead. You ask **me** though… you're a small enough group. You want to make a decision, just listen to everyone's ideas and pick the best one. It ain't rocket surgery."

On the surface of the planet a man in a red uniform seems to be throwing a fit to a strange assortment of alien creatures.

" _ **God,**_ this place _**sucks!**_ Where do you even sleep?"

As the man waves his arm out to the scenery before him something crashes into the blood lake.

"… You wanna check on that Gardner? You _**did**_ kill Atrocitus. Kinda makes you responsible for any newbies."

A giant floating ball speaks up from the group as the others look to the raging man to see what he would do.

"Fine! Whatever! You guys just sit on your asses while I do all the work!"

"I do not have an 'ass' actually." Speaks up and strange jellyfish-brain creature.

"Like I care!"

The angry man floats over to the spot where the falling object crashed into the lake.

"Well we got a while till whoever's in there comes out. Till then we might as well wait. In the meantime, I'll continue with my rant."

* * *

I'm sinking. In what? I don't know. All I know is that I'm in pain. Everything hurts as I sink deeper. It feels like someone's dropped me in magma. Stupid ring landed me right in this stuff.

As I fall farther into the red lake, I think this might be blood, images begin to flash in my mind. The times Cardin humiliated me in front of everyone. The times my **FRIENDS** gave me looks of disappointment and distain. The times my father would deny me the opportunity to train with him. An I remember watching as the Bullhead leaves, with me left behind and death marching towards me.

Every single moment fills me with pure, unadulterated, **RAGE** at the thought of them.

I feel myself hit the bottom and look at the floor of the blood lake to see bones and partially decayed corpses surrounding me. I panic at first before deciding to try and swim towards the surface.

As I make my way higher I can feel my mind becoming clearer. I notice that the armor I'm wearing doesn't seem to be wearing me down any. Which I find odd considering hos heavy it looks. With each stroke, it feels like the restraints on my mind become undone and my thoughts clear up. I soon see light and quicken my pace.

I burst through the surface of the lake and gasp for breath. I try and wipe some of the blood from my eyes to get a better look at the surroundings. I can see a shadow pass over head and look up to see a man in a red uniform looking down on me, floating.

"Holy hell. You're just a kid."

The man floats farther down and extends his hand towards me to pull me out of the blood lake. As he pulls me out I notice how light I feel and after he lets go of my hand notice that I'm floating too.

"So, what's your name?"

The man asks me a question but with everything that's happened recently I can't find the words to respond. The only thing that come to mind is, "What?"

The guy face palms as he shakes his head. "I said what's your name?"

I finally bring myself to the present and respond back. "Jaune. My name is Jaune Arc."

"Well Jaune my name's Guy. Guy Gardner. I guess I should welcome you to the Red Lantern Corps." The man, now named Guy, extends his hand to shake.

I grab his hand dumbly as I give a weak shake. "The Red-what-now?"

"The Red Lantern Corps. Kinda like the Green Lanterns except, you know, red."

One questioned answered and another pop up. "Who're the Green Lanterns?"

Guy seems surprised by my question as he looks at me like I'm an idiot. "You know. The Green Lanterns. Superhero's. Fly around in little green uniforms. Come on your human, right? So, you must've heard of them we got 5 of them on Earth for crying out loud. Well 3 now I guess."

And yet more questions. "Listen man, I don't know what's going on, but I've never heard of this Earth place. So, unless it's some kinda remote village outside the Kingdoms I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Wait wait wait. You've never heard of Earth?" I shake my head in response. "But you are human, right?"

"Ya I'm pretty sure I'm human. What else would I be?"

Guy just stares questioningly at me for a moment. "What planet are you from?"

I can almost feel the tick mark pop out from my forehead. "If this is an insult I swear- "

Guy puts his hands up in defense as he tries and calms me down. "Not what I mean. I meant what's the name of the plant you live on?"

My turn to answer a confusing question I guess. "Remnant. Same as you. Duh."

Silence passes between us for a second before he bursts out laughing. "Oh man. That's rich. Oh man, only in this universe." He continues to laugh for almost a minute straight before he takes a second to catch his breath. Before he starts up again.

"Hey, Rankorr, get over here! You gotta hear this!"

"What the hell are you on about? What's so funny?"

Another voice calls out behind me. This one had an accent on it that I could place, but it sounded familiar. I turn to see the new figure. This one was wearing a similar uniform to Guy. Except for one important difference.

"Holy carp man, YOUR HEAD'S ON FIRE!" I panic at the sight of the newcomer whose HEAD IS ON FIRE!

I feel a hand rest on my shoulder and turn to see Guy standi- floating behind me. "Calm down kid. It's a side effect of the ring on him. It's nothing to worry about."

"He's right. Ever since I put on the ring my hairs been like this. Doesn't feel too bad actually."

That's it. I think my brain is gonna shut down. I swear if anything else weird happens in the next 5 seconds I'm gonna flip.

"Gardner! Are you guys done getting the new guy informed?"

Don't turn around. Don't turn around. DO NOT TURN AROUND! DO NOT- crap. DAMN ME AND MY CHILDLIKE CURIOUSITY!

As I turn to meet the other new voice I see not one, not 2 or 3, but 4 strange looking creatures of varying appearances. From left to right I see a giant brain jellyfish, a goat man with burned skin, a woman with bone wings, and… "Is that a giant testicle with teeth?"

I point at the last of the new group that's joined the 3 of us. Guy and Rankorr let out a small laugh at my remark at the ball shaped… person, in question.

"Glad you guys could join us. Jaune meet Ratchet, Skallox, Bleez, and the 'giant testicle' is Zilius Zox. They're the other members of the Red Lanterns. Consider them your new coworkers and bunkmates."

Guy introduces the new arrivals to me as I take a moment to process all of this.

"… You know what. I don't even care anymore." I turn to my new 'friends' with a wave. "Name's Jaune Arc. Nice to meet you."

They remain silent for the most part. Though I do hear the one who I assume is female, Bleez, scoff at my introduction.

"Great. Another Earthling. As if we didn't have enough with Gardner and Rankorr here. If we get anymore humans I'm gonna have to have some series words with someone." Her tone was harsh and I could tell she held no love for humans from the sound of it.

"Actually, he's not from Earth, though he is human." Guy explains to everyone.

"Wait, how does that work. I thought Earth was the only place humans came from. We don't have any space colonies, at least to my knowledge. How do we know he's not lying?" The one with the flaming head, Rankorr, spoke up from beside me.

"I did a ring scan when the rest of you came up. He's 100% human."

This conversation just keeps making me more and more irritated. "You know, how about you guys don't talk about me like I'm not here. Would make me feel a lot better at least."

Seeming to actually acknowledge my existence as a person now they return their attention to me.

"Well would you look at that. This little pup has some bravado in him after all." This time it was the goat man, Skallox, who spoke up. "Might wanna be careful with that tone though. You're still a pup. Better watch out before you get into some trouble."

He's now in front of me. He's a few inches from my face as he glares down at me. "You better back of goat breath. Before I rip out that stinking tongue of yours."

Skallox leans back a bit as he continues to glare at me before he smiles, at least I think he does, and he gives a short laugh. "Ha. I like this one. He's young but he's got some guts."

The floating ball, Zox, Guy and Rankorr share a laugh with Skallox while Bleez and Ratchet watch with mild interest. After their short laugh Guy floats forward, clapping me on the shoulder as he pulls me into a hug.

"Well at least we know he has the temperament for a Red. I think that clears him for entry. I said it once but I'll say it again." He let's go of me as he floats over to float next to the others.

" **Welcome to the Red Lantern Corps."**

* * *

 **(1) Think of Guts' Berserk armor except with no helmet.**

 **AN/ Hey again to those who stayed around to the end. For those of you concerned about how angsty this story might be don't worry. It'll seem like that in the first few chapters and later when Jaune meets up with his team and team RWBY again, but I will try and make it more realistic than just Jaune bashing them. Well, emotionally at least. That's all so far though so goodbye for now.**


	3. New Home

**AN/ Hey everyone Maestro here. Welcome back to another chapter of Light of Remnant. These past few chapters I really didn't explain what you all should expect in the future so I'll put some stuff here. They're not really spoilers but they are important to point out now so people don't complain later when things change.**

 **This will most likely be an AU for the DC landscape for some minor things, but there will be major AU changes for RWBY.**

 **Already know what the pairing will be but would appreciate some suggestions. Any fun ideas for pairings you come up with would be nice to hear.**

 **Now for some other details. I would like it if people could review as I do appreciate input. I won't say no flames as any review is subject to opinion so if you have something to say please do speak up. All that I ask is that you give a reason. Even if it's just I don't like it.**

 **Alright now for reviews**

 **(Guest) Madman479R: Love the enthusiasm man or women (gotta be careful now a days). Thanks.**

 **FoxOnPie: The reason why the teachers didn't speak up is because it wouldn't matter. If they did then it would be showing favoritism towards one student while belittling the feelings of the majority of other students.**

 **Karlos1234ify: Thanks. The rings will play a role depending on the emotion it governs but there won't be much interaction yet till later in the Green Lanterns stories.**

 **CorvoKuro: Hope I keep it.**

 **Mr. What if: Guy will play a role but more of a big brother rather than father since he isn't that old.**

 **Deadpool64: Ya. I've always wanted to do a story like this but I couldn't decide if I wanted to do a story like this or one where Remnant is a normal world but the entities are ancient gods.**

 **(Guest) My name my game: I'm toying with the idea but still not sure.**

 **(Guest) Redlanternrage: He will go back to Beacon and help Ozpin for a little bit but not too long.**

 **Crow Woyzeck: Yep**

 **(Guest) Kamikaze911: Sorry not where this story's going.**

 **(Guest) Yes Atrocitus will appear.**

 **Now without farther ado onto the story.**

* * *

 **Light of Remnant**

* * *

 **Ch. 3 New home**

No more than 5 minutes after being welcomed into the Red Lantern Corps. We're traveling through space again, heading to god knows where.

"So? Mind filling me in on where we're going? Cause one moment I'm on my planet, waiting to die basically, the next thing I know I'm inducted into some kinda colorful gang of aliens. Oh ya. I forgot. I now have to accept that aliens are real."

We've been traveling in silence for the most part. The casual words are shared between the others who wonder how strong I am, where's my planet I located in the universe and how much longer am I gonna be whining.

"I told you. You're part of the Red Lantern Corps now. The Reds are tied to rage of the emotional spectrum. Each color of the color spectrum is tied to an emotion. You have red for rage, orange for avarice, yellow for fear, green for will, blue for hope, indigo for compassion, and violet for love. Each emotion has a Corps that wields its light in the form of our rings. The Green Lanterns are the biggest, who basically act as the police force for the universe followed by the guys who use the yellow light, the Sinestro Corps, the you have the Star Sapphires, the Indigo Tribe, the Blue Lanterns, us, and Agent Orange, the only Orange Lantern."

Guy has been kind enough to try and explain all of this to me in the time it's taken us to get to wherever it is we're going.

"You know that answers one question, but opens so many others. I feel like I need a whiteboard the size of building to get all the info I need for this whole thing." Honestly my head would be spinning if I didn't already decide to just ignore all the random information until I get a moment to sit down with someone to explain it all.

"Why didn't we just leave him on Ysmault Gardner? If he's gonna be asking this many questions I'll go mad." Zox speaks up from the rear, probably asking the same question that's going on in everyone's mind.

"Because I didn't feel like leaving a newbie alone on that piece of crap while we're gone. Bad enough he's new to this whole 'aliens exist' thing. I don't want him to be left with all these questions and no one to answer them."

I notice someone pull up on my right to see Rankorr trying to start a conversation. "I know what you mean. I've only been in the group for a little bit longer than you have and I still don't get most of it. It's probably to just ignore most of it for now."

Nice to know I'm not the only one lost to this whole thing. Still though, I have little to no idea what I've gotten myself into. This whole situation seems like some fever dream.

"Alright everyone quiet down. We're coming up in our destination." Guy calls out from the front of the group as an object begins to come into view.

"You never did tell us where we're going Gardner. Mind telling us before we get into whatever mess awaits us."

"Nothing too special Bleez. Just our new home."

The object is now fully in view. It's a gigantic space ship. I notice a few smaller ships floating nearby.

"Zox, Skallox, Ratchet, take out those scouts. Meet up on the top of the ship when you're done. Jaune, Bleez, Rankorr, you're with me."

Our group breaks off as I continue to follow Guy with Bleez beside me. "You better stay close child. It would be a shame if our new member died because of a stray shot." Bleez didn't even try to hide her mocking attitude as she looks at me from the corner of her eye with a smirk.

I've seen a little on how these guy's work, plus watching enough movies helps. And all of it tells me that if I want them to respect me I need to show them I won't cower. When I acted up earlier to Skallox I was still sorta fresh outta the pool, so my anger was flaring a little. This time I'll need to use my backbone and mean it.

"I'd also be a shame if that beautiful face of yours got burned by a stray but of mortar blood. Let's just hope neither happens and leave this hypothetical talk for after we're done here." That came out a lot easier than I thought. Usually I would stutter or fail to say anything at all. I wonder if this ring is beginning to affect me too much.

Either way, it seems my response pleased Bleez as her condescending smirk turns to one of mild amusement. "Oh? You've got quite the mouth on you. I wonder if all humans, even ones from other planets inherently have this odd sense confidence that makes them think they can speak their mind so openly to their better?"

"Alright, enough messing with the newbie." As we land I take a moment to look at the material of this ship. Even if it is alien it looks almost exactly like any base material you would find on Remnant. "We'll wait for the others to finish up, then I'll tell you guys what the plan is."

Almost as if on que three explosion light up around the ship as Zox, Skallox and Ratchet show back up. "Alright we're all here, so what's the plan Gardner? Whose is it anyways?"

"I'm glad you asked testicle head."

"Seriously! What's a testicle?!"

Brushing of Zox's question Guy continues with his explanation. "The ship belongs to a scumbag named Barg. He's like a pirate, except on a sector-wide scale. The Green Lanterns always meant to catch him, but we've- they've been busy lately."

"Wait, actual pirates. Like eyepatches and peg legs?" First a magic ring, next aliens, now pirates.

"Ya, and they have parrots on their shoulders and hooks for hands."

"I know sarcasm Guy, no need to be a dick about it."

"Ignoring the idiot. Does this mean we can kill them all?"

"Easy, Bleezy. Do what you gotta do, but if you do it because you wanna do it then we'll have problems. Here's the plan, we'll split up into three groups. Skallox and Rankorr take starboard, Ratchet and Bleez take port. ZZ Blob and Jaune are with me. We'll head through the ship and meet up at the bridge."

* * *

After we split up Zox, Guy and I began to make our way through the hallways of the ship.

"So why does this Barg guy need such a big ship anyways? I thought you said he's a pirate, not a moving company." Zox floats above us as guy leads the way down the halls.

"He uses it to move whatever he happens to be stealing. The ship's called the Kaalvar, it's the flagship of his fleet. This thing can move. Once it gets started almost nothing can catch it. We're lucky we caught it while it's still."

As we near a corner we peek around to see if any crew members are walking the halls. "So, you think this Barg guy will just let us take the ship?"

Almost as soon as Zox finished he was shot by a blue laser from out of nowhere.

"There be the intruders mateys. Capture them and take them to the captain so they can walk the plank…. Yarg." The leader of the group ordered his comrades to continue the assault as lasers fly left and right. The alien pirate was wearing a long coat. His right eye was covered with an eye patch and on his left hand was a mechanical claw that looked like a hook.

"I CALLED IT! DO YOU SEE THAT? I CALLED IT!" I shout out my victory to the others as we fight our way through the forces of the pirate crew. I punch the closest one to me in the stomach, at least I think it's the stomach.

Guy blasts a small group into the wall as he readies for the next wave. "Ya, ya, don't get cocky. Everyone's right once and awhile. On your left!" He fires a blast to a pirate that was sneaking up on me, knocking him through a door.

"Thanks," I notice one of the crew members staring to get back up behind him as we finish up, "let me pay you back." I create a projection of an anvil and dropped on the head of the of the offending alien.

I wipe my knuckles against the chest piece of my armor as I let a little arrogance slip out. 'Damn, musta been pretty amazing if they're stunned like that. Though I guess that's just expected when you're awesome like me.'

Zox tries to pick up his jaw from the ground as Guy steps up to check out the red anvil. "Did you just make a construct?"

I'm broken from patting myself on the back as the two turn to look at me. "Ya, why? Can't we all do that? I thought the rings helped us make them?"

"Not… exactly. Ordinarily Reds can't use constructs, the only one who can use one is Rankorr for whatever reason. The only way for any others to get the ability to drink so of his blood."

"Guy, what the hell is with this group. Does everything have to do with blood?" Seriously, ever since I joined this group everything has either been blood, rage, or fighting. It's like a redneck family reunion.

Guy just seemed to ignore my comment as he wonders over to the door he blasted the pirate through.

"No…" Guy's stunned expression concerns me so I decide to head over and checkout what's going in.

"What's up? What's in… side?"

Giant crystal balls with stubs extending from them were stacked inside the room. Black smudges were smeared over the balls. "The hell are these?"

"These remind me of that Green lantern, the crystal guy. Always wanted to meet him. He was like a shiny me. What was his name?" Zox joins us as I begin to feel the rage practically pour out of Guy.

"His name was **Chaselon**. These are beings from his planet." His voice was rough as he tried to get out the words.

"These are…. people? Then that black stuff is…?"

"Probably their blood. Though I thought they're supposed to have arms and legs to."

Guy walks into the room and looks at one of the corpses of the crystal beings. "They didn't need them. All they needed was the crystal core. They grind the stuff up and sell it as an aphrodisiac. These people were _**HARVESTED**_!"

How? How could anybody do this?! These are PEOPLE! AND THEY HARVESTED THEM! I can feel blood begin to poor down my mouth and eyes. My rage boils at the thought of the pain and torment these beings must've experienced had to have been excruciating.

"That's pretty awful, even for… Guy." Zox and I turn to see Guy was missing. I look down the halls to see if I can find any sign of Guy, but to no avail. "He probably headed towards the bridge like we planned. Though now I think he has a different plan in mind."

A blast rocks the ship, almost sending me into the wall. "That was probably Guy. We should catch up with him." The two of us head towards the origin of the explosion to find Guy sitting in a chair. Oh ya, and theirs a GIANT HOLE IN THE SHIP! Rankorr walks in after us and begins to put up a wall to block the hole. I help him out by blocking the spots he hasn't gotten to yet.

"I wonder what it is that allows humans to have the innate ability to make constructs. You may wanna pick up the slack Gardner or these two may just pass you." I hear Skallox call from the rear as all of us gather on the bridge. I feel a small bit of pride well up inside at what I perceived was a complement.

"Let's just be glad the child has some use at least. Now we won't have to baby sit him as much." And theirs Bleez with the soul crushing words of pain.

"Can't I just have a little bit of joy here. Honestly, you're worse than my sisters." Every time I get a little bit of happiness they would come down and poke fun at me. It was all in good fun of course. They're my family and we love each other. That doesn't mean I didn't poke back.

"Well everybody. Welcome to our new home. Drinks are on me tonight!"

The group gives a loud cheer at the prospect of the party ahead to celebrate the victory over the pirates.

All and all this wasn't such a bad day.

* * *

 **Back on Remnant**

I had made a terrible mistake. I originally had planned for Mr. Arc to use the mission as an opportunity to reconnect with his team, but it seems to have backfired horribly.

A larger horde of Grimm had appeared seemingly out of nowhere during the mission, leaving both teams with a limited window of escape before they would be left to be devoured by the swarm of Grimm.

From the report, it seems Mr. Arc had chosen to remain behind to allow the others some time to finish getting the remainder of the villagers into the Bullheads along with themselves. Mr. Arc was heading back with the next wave close on his heels.

The two teams were anxious as the Grimm drew closer. The pilot on the other hand was concerned with following procedure. With a horde of that side drawing so close it calls for the pilot to make the decision to leave. Even if they must leave some behind.

The teams fought to try and wait, even Ms. Schnee who has been none to kind to Mr. Arc as of late. Either way, it was the pilot's decision to put the passengers on board safety over the single soul on the ground.

As soon as we were able to amass the proper forces we returned to the village to fight of the Grimm. Both teams had insisted on being brought along. Who was I do deny them the right to see if their friend was fine or not. Only to find charred remains of the village and path of broken trees through the forest.

The only sign of Mr. Arc was his sword and shield found under the crushed remain of a house. The students were torn by the revelation of Mr. Arc's fate.

Ms. Nikos fell to her knees as she wept for her partner that she never took the time to reconcile with. Ms. Valkyrie cried onto Mr. Ren's shoulder. The boy himself not doing much better.

Ms. Rose was much like Ms. Nikos as she had crumbled into a ball with her sister holding her. Ms. Schnee and Ms. Belladonna with both saddened at the loss of life, even if they had not known him for very long.

'I will have to contact his parents soon. This is always the worst part of being the Headmaster. Informing a parent that child has fallen under my care is always devastating news. Add in the fact that Mr. had faked his way in and that I had known about it will be all the worse.'

"Glynda, would you please see to the rest of the clean-up of the village. I have some other matters to attend to." The combat instructor was holding up for now, but I know that in her personal time she will for the boy a well.

"Very well Ozpin." With the order received she heads off to talk with the other Huntsmen to begin checking the surrounding area for any remaining Grimm.

I make my way to the Bullhead to head back to Beacon to inform the Arcs. In the back of my head I wonder what could've happened to the mass of Grimm that should have been here. They couldn't have gotten too far in the time since the last sighting. The idea of someone coming through and killing the whole horde was quickly dismissed as no name comes to mind that would be capable of such a feat.

The setting sun shines in my eyes as we take off. Bringing this horrible day to a close.


	4. A Long Talk

**Light of Remnant**

 **Ch. 4 A Long Talk**

"What should we call it?"

"How about _**Flaming Fox**_?"

After we took the ship from the pirates we returned to Ysmault to start on repairs and gather ourselves. When we landed Zox began to make repairs to the damaged bridge that Guy blew a hole in. Bleez walked around to inspect the ship herself and chose the best cabin to claim for herself. And Ratchet was… doing whatever Ratchet does. Guy, Skallox, Rankorr and I are sitting up on a cliff overlooking the ship.

Which brings us to our current predicament.

"Why should we give it a name? It's a ship. We don't even need a ship. The ring takes us anywhere we need to go." Skallox hasn't been too thrilled of the idea on even keeping the ship. Though he did seem rather happy after peeking at the armory.

"You just don't get it. It's not just a ship, it's a home base. We didn't have to get any sleazy contractors to build it for us. It's ready-made, plus it's got style." Guy has been trying to sell Skallox on the idea of the ship. Though I honestly think it's just to get him to stop bitching.

"I'm was getting tired of sleeping on the dirt." Rankorr's been siding with Guy on the matter. Probably helps that there's the reward of a roof over his head, but who am I to judge. "A bed does sound better." Skallox scoffs and walks off, commenting how humans are weak or something like that.

"Well with him gone why don't we get back to the matter at hand? What are we gonna name this beauty?" Seems Guy's really into this naming thing. Not that I blame him. Guess all men like to have a base with a kick ass name.

Rankorr and I look to one another, "Well it's gotta fit. Something that goes with our theme."

"Kids gotta point." Rankorr turns to the ship to look for ideas. "How about _**Scarlet Sword**_? Or maybe _**King Crimson**_? Always liked the band." He hums to himself again to ponder more ideas. "Though if we wanna strike fear in people _**Bloody Horror**_ sounds nice."

" _ **Red Rocket**_? I don't know about you but that would be kinda terrifying to me if I was being chased by the _**Red Rocket**_."

They both simply stare at me blankly. Neither seem to find my joke funny. "Well those are all terrible ideas. Let's think on it for a while." Guy stands from the cliff, floating towards the ship. "Jaune, follow me. I need you to do something."

As Guy leaves Rankorr and I share a look before I follow. Guy leads me behind the ship where Zox is using his ring to make repairs. "ZZ. How goes the fix?"

Zox seems too busy to even turn to Guy as he's busy welding pieces of ripped metal to the haul. "Almost done here. The ship has a huge supply hold. Has spares of everything we'll ever need. Should've seen Skallox after I showed him the weapons locker. I think he nearly grew a third horn."

"Ugh," the image nearly makes me throw up to even think about how that would look, "please don't say that. I'd rather keep my lunch thank you. Just picturing it makes my stomach churn."

The two share a laugh at my expense before Guy speaks up again, "I'm gonna have Jaune help you finish up. He doesn't know ships but I figure an extra pair of hands will make it go faster."

Zox takes a moment to pause his work, turning to look at me, "So you're gonna stick me with the newbie huh. Well whatever, not gonna complain about the help."

"Good to hear." With a pat on my back Guy turns to leave, "Try not to get in his way too much blonde, or else he might just make you his after work meal." And with one final laugh he's gone.

"Asshole." I turn to Zox to see him finishing mending the hole, "So, how'd you get so good at fixing space ships anyways. No offense, but you don't look the part of a mechanic."

"Ke," Zox powers down his ring as the hole disappears, replaced with a new siding, "Ordinarily I would at least take a bite out of you for that, but your people have never even been to space, so I'll let it slide for now."

"To answer your question my third sporefather ran a yard in sector 3544. I apprenticed there for a while. Back then I was just a dot." Even with that face of teeth and wrinkles I could see a bare hint of melancholy, "Always meant to go back. See how everyone was doing."

I turn and scratch my head as silence fills the air. "Well," I figured I might as well fill in the silence before the mood sours, "good thing you had someone to show you the ropes. My old man wasn't much for showing me anything. Spent most of his time either training my sisters or out on a job. Barley even put any time into me."

The quiet stare of Zox is all I receive before a small smile graces his ugly mug. "So, your father thought your sisters had more worth in a fight then you? From the sound of it he doesn't have much of an eye for talent then."

Shock is all I fell from Zox's response, "Huh?"

Zox steps past me to head underneath for more repairs. "I saw you on the ship. You worked that ring well for a rookie. Hell, you even have the ability to make constructs. The only one of us that can do that is Rankorr and he's one of our most powerful fighters. Your still young, given time I'm sure you can beat most things in any sector to a bloody pulp."

For the first time in what seems like forever I feel a hint of pride in me. To hear someone complement me, even saying that I'm strong now, not just having the possibility to be strong. I feel… happy. "Thank you… Testicle face."

"Alright rule one, if you're gonna work under me you gotta tell me what testicle means."

* * *

I'm walking towards the communication center of the ship. Apparently, Guy wanted to talk about something so he called me up. I had just finished helping Zox with repairs to the rest of the ship. He mentioned that he would try and put in a new engine. One that could be powered by our rings.

"In here Jaune!" Guy's voice calls out to me and I follow it to an open door. Inside Guy was sitting in a chair looking over something on the screen. "Sit down over there."

I follow his finger to see a chair pulled out for me near his. As I sit, he finishes up whatever it was he was doing and turns to me. "I got a question for you Jaune."

I fidget a little in my chair as it doesn't seem to be made for someone of my shape, i.e. humanoid. "Alright shoot. You called me here."

He takes a breath before he looks me dead in the eyes, the color of his iris' a dull red, "Why are you here?"

"Ummm," Okay, wasn't ready for that. Sorta expected an update on the ship. "Pardon?"

"I mean why do you have a red ring. What could make someone like you, someone so young and nice turn to anger and hatred for help. You've had some outbursts here and there, but for the most part you seem like an odd, dorky kid that just seems in over his head."

Thinking about his question drags up those flashes of memories I had in the blood lake. The times my dad ignored me for my sisters. The times I was harassed and picked on. And the time my own teammates, people I thought as friends abandoned me to die.

I hear Guy sigh as he puts a hand on my shoulder, "Look, if it's too hard to talk about I get it. There're somethings I don't like remembering either. I just wanted to lend an ear if you wanted. Get whatever it is off your chest. We can talk later if you want."

"No." Maybe he's right. It might do me good to talk about this. It helped a little with Zox, it might do something here to. "No, it's fine. You're right."

"First time I heard that in a long time." Guy leans back in his seat to get comfortable. "So, where you wanna start?"

And I told him. I told him everything. From my dad's refusal to train me, to his disappointment at my weakness, to my transcripts at Beacon being found out, to the shunning and abandonment of my friends.

The whole time he was silent. All he did was stare at me and listen. When I was done I noticed my ring was glowing as it announces **87% charged**. I guess our rage fuels the ring and the ring fuels our rage. Pretty good power source when you think of it.

"Alright, that everything?"

"Ya. Ya I guess so." With everything laid bare I felt kinda naked. And not the kind where this ends with a happy ending.

"Good." With that he reaches underneath the desk and pulls out two glasses and a bottle. "I was on the fence of whether to do this, but I figured you earned it after that."

I don't know how anything else could surprise me, but this one was a little more welcomed. "Does this mean I can drink whenever I want?" The idea seems kinda stupid. I don't feel like much of a drinker, but having it every now and then couldn't hurt.

"Hahaha, no. This is a onetime deal. I'm not big on underage drinking so don't expect this again."

"Fine, mom. Just poor that thing. I wanna get this day behind me."

"Call me that again and I'll make it really easy for you to fall asleep." We share a long laugh before he pours me a shot and hands it over. "Here you go. Now you're gonna want to take it easy. It's kinda rough at first."

I didn't hear what he said as I downed my first shot. "Did you say something?"

He looks at me blankly before pouring another one for me. "This is gonna be fun."

* * *

 **30 minutes later**

"And zen he had ze nerve to tell eryone he did it! Can you believe it?! After I saved him!"

We'd been drinking for a while now. I slowed down after my 3rd drink. Deciding it was best to pace myself. Guy's one his 8th shot while I'm still on my 5th.

"Zat sucks kid. It really doz. I can't tell youz how many timez I had to deal with some pompous prick or a loud mouth zat wanted to try and act better zan me. Right before they piss zemselves."

We must have sounded horrible. I could tell our words were slurred. That didn't stop us from taking another drink. We pass stories, Guy more than me. I hear the tales of Guy's time as a Green Lantern. All the worlds he visited. The stars he traveled to… The women he saw.

It was amazing honestly. Not even counting the fact that I was sitting here listening to a man tell his adventures across the universe. But the people he met, the monsters he fought against that make the Grimm look like rampaging toddlers, the friends he shared drinks with. I was all spectacular. I don't think I'll ever forget this moment for as long as I live.

"Well, I think we zould call it a night. Tomorrowz gonna be a bitch with that hangover. Best to stop while we can." With that he picks up the glasses and bottle and begins to head out. "We'll talk more tomorrow. For now, just rest. You've had a long day."

I stand up and gather what little balance I have left and wobble to the door. "Guez your right. I'll zee you tomorrow."

We wave good night to each other and I wander to my room. I barely make it before I fall onto the bed and pass out into darkness.

* * *

 **Remnant**

As soon as I returned to Beacon I made the dreaded call to the Arc family. The elevator ride up the tower was longer than usual. After I arrived at the top I put the call out to the Arcs.

Each ring of the call added more and more weight on my heart. After a few moments, the ringing stops and a woman's image appears on the screen. "Hello Ozpin, it's good to see you again."

Isabella Arc, the matriarch of the Arc family. Her almost silver hair shines as brightly as ever. "It's good to see you again Isabella. Though I wish, it was under better circumstances."

The concern on her face was never a pleasant sight. That beautiful face was shamed by the sorrowful expression. "Is something the matter?"

"Please get Michael for now. I need you both to hear this."

She nods before heading off to call her husband. A minute later they both return. Michael Arc was somewhat of a large man. Not necessarily big, but built strong. "What's going on Ozpin? What did you call us for?"

I take some deep breathes before I start the fire that may burn down this relationship. "It's about your son, Jaune."

"Jaune! Have you seen him!? Do you know where he is!?" Isabella's frantic voice can be heard as she cuts in front of her husband. The concern of a mother has always been heart aching to see during one of these calls.

"Yes Isabella, this is about Jaune."

"Then," Michael stands in front of Isabella again. This time the full intimidation of his figure shows as he glares into the screen, "I was right. He did go to Beacon. I assume you let him in? Who am I kidding. You've always been a gambler when you think you see someone with talent. So, where is he. I wanna have a word with him."

"…He's dead."

And like that silence fills the air. They both stare at me with shocked expressions. Isabella looks like her world had just been shattered. Tears begin to fall from her face before she collapses into a ball on the floor. Her wailing can be heard from where she fell. Stephen was no better as he grabs his head with his hand.

"How did he die?" Michael's voice was quiet, but it still held an air of authority.

"He died buying time for his teammates to evacuate a village as a Grimm horde drew closer. They were forced to leave him behind. We returned later with reinforcements, but it was too late. The village was burned to the ground. All we could find of your son was the remains of his shield and sword."

I give them both a moment to let my words sink in before I speak up again, "I am deeply sorry for letting this happen. I cannot ask for you forgiveness."

Michael takes deep breath, "We'll be at Beacon within the week. We'll retrieve Crocea Mors and nothing more. After this we'll be cutting all ties with you Ozpin."

This was to be expected. "I understand. I will have a bullhead sent to receive your family shortly."

The call ends shortly afterward. I recline in my chair and consider pouring myself a cup of coffee, maybe even some liquor. But I hold off. I have work ahead of me, and it wouldn't be right for me to be drunk while I work. I'm not Qrow after all.

* * *

 **Hey everyone. Been awhile. Sorry for the wait, been bust with other things. For those who've read Jaune the Stampede know I have other plans in store for more stories. Check out the poll on my profile for info. For now, I'll say goodbye. Later**


	5. Who Turned Out the Lights?

**Light of Remnant**

 **Ch. 5 Who Turned Out the Lights?**

First thing I feel in the morning is a piercing spike driving into my head. Rolling from my bed onto the floor the cold feeling of metal helps to cool my body. An aching sensation stretches up my spine and though my joints. I pick myself up to look out the window of my room. The light shines in causing a splitting headache to shock me awake.

'Note to self. Never try and keep up with Guy in a drinking contest.'

Walking over to the door a hole can be seen near the foot of my bed. Thinking back, I sorta remember throwing up. Looks like I'm gonna need to fix that later. Zox is not gonna be happy to hear about this.

The halls are silent for the most part. Talking can be heard farther down from the rec room. As I draw closer a green light shines out from the door way. The next thing I know Guy calls out for everyone to attack with the sound of glass shattering.

"Oh god. Is it too late to go back to bed? This is staring out as a terrible morning." Racing down the hall, as well as a guy with a hangover can, I enter the rec room to see everyone fighting a large group of people in green outfits. The lights from the two groups fighting nearly causes my brain to commit suicide.

Deciding it was better to help rather than stand around doing nothing I jump into the fray. I notice Skallox fighting a man higher up and decide to give him a hand. To disoriented to make a construct. So, I'll have to fight the old-fashioned way. Flying up behind the unnamed attacker I bring my hands together to perform an axe smash to the top of his skull.

"Ya! Take thattt." The whole world spins a little. Grabbing my bearings, I notice Guy flying up between us, pushing us apart. "Sorry. Still a little hungover from last night."

"It's alright kid. Go help the others. I'll deal with him." Nodding as best I can I leave to join the others. Before I leave I see Guy crack the man across the face and blast into the dirt. Figuring it would be best to pick the nearest greenie I swing for the nearest light that isn't red.

One of the many mistakes I'll make today.

My fist makes contact with a giant wall of meat. I look up to see a large, pink, bulldog faced man. At least I assume it's a man. Haven't quite gotten a grasp on this whole alien physiology yet. "Um, hi?"

The meat wall snorts before he back hands me. I manage to duck under the swing. The same could not be said for the knee to the stomach. A hand latches onto the back of my head and I rocket down to the ground face first.

"Ow." A shadow looms over head. Peeking a glance, the giant stands over me pointing it's ring at me.

"Stay down kid. Don't wanna have to ring your bell again."

Shaking off the ringing in my head I put my ring to the ground and begin to charge up. "Ya, well it ain't gonna be that easy this time." With that I blast the ground causing an explosion to kick up some dust. With the enemy blinded I jump back to gain some distance for time to make a construct.

Before I get far though a hand shoots out from the cloud and grabs hold of my leg. The meat wall comes out and cracks me across the face. "Nice try, but it's gonna take a lot more than a little smoke screen to get one over on me."

His grip tightens as he slams me into the ground. I'm not strong enough right now to do any straight damage to him. I'll have to try and hit the weak spot on this gender ambiguous being. That does give me an idea though. On the chance that this is a guy, I can only hope that the one weakness of all men is universal.

Using my opponents sense of battle superiority, I let him loosen his grip and drop his guard. After that I put every brain cell I have that isn't blown out from last night and try to make a construct. Something simple will have to do. A memory of my childhood plays out as I watch cartoons and I have my weapon.

Focusing my rage through my ring I build my construct. A punching glove on the end of a spring striking my target.

His junk.

The wall crumbles to his knees. With my gamble paying off it allows me to land a punch straight to his jaw. "That enough for ya? Cause if not I still got energy to spare!"

That was mistake number two.

Getting back up he blasts me back with a beam. Recovering from the attack I raise my ring to fire back. Only for my opponent to have disappeared. I find him after a blow from the right knocks me off my feet. A familiar scene plays out as he stands over me, but this time he doesn't take the time to threaten me and begins to lay into me.

He lands a few blows before the assault stops. Looking to see what happened the man I blindsided earlier is holding the meat wall back. "That's enough Kilowog. I talked with Guy, we have their help. No need to crush the kid."

The meat wall, now named Kilowog, lets up and begins to walk away. And me and my infinite wisdom thought it would be funny to play the smart ass. "Ah, and I was just getting warmed up." My only saving grace was that I was coughing up blood when I said it, so I don't think he heard me.

"You're a little ballsy ain't ya? Not many can land a low blow to Kilowog and walk away from it." The new arrival stretches out his hand to help me up. Grabbing it he pulls me to my feet. I sway some from the blood rush but find my balance soon. "Guy's waiting for you with the others. Might wanna join them."

Looking around I notice the others gathering by the power battery. "Thanks. Names Jaune by the way. Jaune Arc."

Holding out my hand again he takes it in a firm hold. "Hal. Hal Jordan. Nice to meet ya."

Floating over to join the others I hear Some complain about the fight being called off. Noticing my arrival Rankorr helps me stay balanced as I shake off the probable concussion. "You alright man? Ya look like you were hit by a truck."

Shacking my head to focus I nod, "Na, more like bulldozer. I'm fine though. Got a shot in on the guy's lug nuts."

Calming down the others Guy speaks up from the group. "You gonna be okay? Who were you fighting anyways?"

"Some bulldog/pig hybrid guy. Think they said his name was Kilowog."

"You fought Kilowog? Big pink guy? And you're not dead?"

"Uh," A concussion kinda makes it hard to remember things but I'm pretty sure I'm alive. "Ya. That guy. Made a boxing glove on a spring to catch him off guard. Someone named Hal stopped him before he could beat my face in though."

"Damn, you're a tough mop head ain't ya?"

Bleez lets out a low growl as mortar blood leaks from her mouth. "Enough with patting the runt on the back. Why did you call off the fight Gardner? Did you just wanna spare your green friends, traitor?"

Wait, what? "Okay hold up. I still have some ringing in my ears, so I don't think I heard you right. Did you say Guy's a traitor?" I'm getting whiplash from all these fast balls recently.

"Last time I checked most of us were liars and traitors. Nothing too new here Bleez." Rankorr speaks up from my side to try and come to Guy's defense. I think. "For now, let's let Guy explain why the greens are here."

With the focus now returned to Guy he tells us the situation. Some being named Relic is going around and stealing the light from each of the lantern corps. He already killed the Blue lanterns and destroyed the Green lantern home world. He was saying our use of the light was draining the reserves for the emotional spectrum, and when the light dies out so does the universe.

It was some heavy stuff.

None of this seemed to bother the others much. "Again, we use our strength for the greens?" The universe ending threat hasn't brought out the humanitarian in Bleez it seems, or alientarian I guess.

"Look at it this way, we get something out of this deal at least." Ah Zox. Looking on the bright side. I knew I liked you ya big old testicle head.

The others go quiet. Thinking over the deal. "For now, I believe we should put it to a vote. Guy Gardner must abstain. All in favor?"

One by one everyone raises their hand. Weakly I raise my own, making the vote unanimous. Turning to the Green lanterns nearby Guy gives our answer. "You've got a deal, Jordan. We'll help you kill this Relic character, and in return—we get _**our own sector.**_ No greens allowed. **We're** the law."

"Jordan, you can't. They're _**reds**_." A Green Lantern attempts to convince Hal to reconsider. Doesn't seem to be working though.

"We're out of options Tomar." Hal reaches out and takes Guy's and to affirm the deal.

"All right then. Let's go kick some ass." Nice rallying call. Would be more motivating if I wasn't about to puke.

"I'll be right with you guys. I'm just gonna go behind that rock and puke up last night's dinner." Already feeling the vile begin to come up I make a bee line for said rock.

On a side note I found out even our vomit's red.

* * *

After returning from my cleansing session, and swearing off alcohol for a while, I come to Guy yelling at Hal.

"We're not fighting again, are we?"

"Nah. Just a famous Gardner hissy fit." I look to the right and notice the meat wall standing next to me. "Though if you're looking for a rematch I'm open to one after were done with this mess."

I don't have enough brain damage yet to consider that a good idea yet. "Maybe another time. Rather keep my face in the general same shape. Gotta keep something for the ladies."

Kilowog lets out a short laugh, nudging me with his elbow. "If that 'something' is that ugly mug you call a face then you got nothing to worry about."

Wow. Haven't even known this guy for an hour and he's already ribbing me. Kinda reminds me of the bullying Cardin used to do to me, but… different. I don't know why but these guys don't seem to insult me to actually hurt me. It reminds me of those relationships between brothers. Poking fun at each other but never meaning anything bad by it.

"I think you got the whole 'ugly mug' department covered, pug face."

Kilowog levels a glare on me as Guy and Hal talk about some guy named John. The conversation turns violent as Guy begins to spew blood from his mouth. As they continue to talk Guy promises to strangle that Relic guy with his own throat, not sure how that's possible, but I wasn't gonna bring that up now.

Another name is thrown out. This time it's someone name Kyle. Really appreciate the normal names these guys have. Makes them easier to remember. They talk about trying to find him. Apparently, he's with Relic, which to me questions the side he's on.

"I might… know where Kyle is. Maybe. No actually I do know where he is." Another color is added to our pallet of craziness. This one was a woman dressed in a pink uniform. Considering the color, she's probably part of the Star Sapphires that I was told about earlier. They govern love if I remember.

"Carol? How do _you_ know where Kyle is?" Hal seems the most confused out of all of us. I'm still relatively new to the Emotional Spectrum concept, but I've long since given up on questioning the powers of these rings.

A few moments pass as Hal stares dumbly at Carol. Before long he seems to have an answer to whatever question he had to himself. "You... You're a Star Sapphire. You're powered by love. And you know where _**Kyle**_ is."

The atmosphere grows heavy as I hear some of the other lanterns mumble to themselves. Beside me, Kilowog remarks at the awkwardness of the situation. Something inside tells me that this might be one question I don't want answered.

The two… friends, banter back and forth a few times before they settle the argument. Everyone gears up as our destination is confirmed. Carol shoots a tether out into space.

Hopefully whatever fish it catches isn't too big to handle.

* * *

 **Hey everyone. Sorry for the wait. Been busy. Anyways I plan to pick up on the updates. Hopefully now I will be able to keep up the one time a week.**

 **I others news the poll will close by Friday. The Gurren lagann and red hood crossovers are close. If it is a tie I'm probably gonna swing on the Gurren lagann one. Have more of an idea for that one.**

 **That's it. Goodbye for now.**


	6. Back-up Power

**So, been a while everyone. Gonna be honest. I've been half way done with this for some time now. Just didn't have the motivation to finish this. Anyways on to the story.**

 **Light of Remnant**

 **Ch. 6 Back-up Power**

I really should learn to keep my mouth shut.

After following Carol's tether to location of where ever Relic was, we began to draw near our target. As we got closer something began to come into view. It looked like some kinda big… wall. Upon farther inspection, there were figures coming out from the wall, each varying in size. Some were a few times bigger than me, others were so large that I don't think I'm even a speck in their eyes. That is, if they had eyes.

"What is that?"

" **That would be the Source Wall. It stands at the edge of the Universe."** A glow emits from my ring as a robotic voice calls out from it. I remember when the ring first chose me. Back then a voice spoke up as well, though there wasn't much to say at the time. I guess there must be some kinda A.I. inside the ring if it can handle all the functions of the ring without me.

Looking in all directions, the edge of the Wall is nowhere in sight. All I can see are more stone-like bodies lining it, stretching on forever. "What about the bodies on it? Are they statues?"

The ring glows again, **"They are the ones who have sought power from the Wall. Each of them came seeking what lays beyond. The Source. All who touched the Wall became a part of it. In the end, they became one with the power they sought."**

All right. Note to self, _do not_ touch the giant graveyard wall. "All right everyone! Look alive! We're about to put on one hell of a light show!" From the front Hal informs us that we're closing in.

Floating next to me, Guy closes in to talk. "Kid, I want you to stay close to the others. This fight's gonna be big. A lot bigger than the scuffle with the pirates. You aren't experienced enough to go on your own yet, so be on your guard."

A bright light shines out from near the Wall. From inside the light mechanical devices look to be sucking up several different colors of energy. A man in white looks to be restrained with the light being pulled out from him. Some of the Greens open fire at the devices to free the man from confinement.

A giant floats next to the smoldering devices. He's much larger than any of us. He rivals some of the inhabitants of the wall. "Hey! **Gulliver!** That butterfly you're pulling the wings off of? He's with us!" Hal makes a rally cry, that I'm sure also doubles as a reference I don't get, as the assault begins.

With the battle under way the giant, probably Relic, launches dozens of drones in to attack us. Laser fire is shot back and forth between the two forces. Several of the drones are exploding, while our forces set up defenses to shield us from the assault.

The fight carries on for a few minutes before the number of drones dwindles close to zero. With the last of the drones rounded up I see Guy and Hal charge into Relic. Guy takes a shot at the giant, but before the blast can hit it's mark a disk blocks its past. The disk somehow absorbed the energy from the attack a reflected it.

With the blast coming back full circle Guy stands, or floats I suppose, dumbfounded. "Guy-!"

"Move!"

Before I can get to him, someone comes out of nowhere and barrels into Guy. He seems to be a Green Lantern from the uniform, but not one of the ones that were with us on Ysmault. Guy seems to know him if his happy expression is anything to go off. He looked like he was about to give the man a hug, before the new arrival belts him across the face.

I'm starting to sense a pattern here.

Joining up with the other Reds we gather up for an assault. "So, does everyone you know have a secret hand shake. Except with fists."

Wiping the blood from his lip, Guy turns to us. "Ya, pretty much a normal thing with the company I keep." Charging up, we prepare for orders. "Alright Reds! Tear the ship apart! No light! **Only Rage!** "

With the objective received our rag tag team of rage fueled psychopaths begin the attack. Ripping apart the ship we each lay into our own part. I think I saw Zox take a bite out of it.

Soon enough the Greens join in, taking another part of the ship higher up. After a while it starts falls towards the before making contact. With the ship done for we fall back a safe distance. Looking to the point of contact I see the Wall begin to… absorb what remains of the floating scrap metal.

Relic seems stunned at the loss of his spacecraft. Noticing a gap in his defense, I decide to use this chance. Those disks reflect any attack launched at their master. But what happens if you can get past them?

"Rankorr, I've got a plan. You guys got something called a Jack-in-the-Box on Earth?"

He seems puzzled by my question. "Ya, what do ya have in mind?"

I can fell the smirk grow on my face as I turn to my flaming haired friend. "I got a way past those things."

It takes a few seconds before he gets the idea of my plan. The same smirk soon spreads to him as he starts to make a construct around me. "You're a crazy one, ya know that." Red light forms all around me in the shape of a box. The bottom has a small platform that I stand on as Rankorr throws me towards Relic.

"You fool. You've seen that your light does not work on me. And yet you still waste light." A disk moves in the way of the box, and right before it has the chance to absorb the construct the top opens, launching me over the dick.

All Relic can do is stare as my red fist construct makes contact with his face. Causing him to reel back slightly. "How do ya like that?! You… overgrown…... Man you're a lot bigger up close." Immediately after I finish my statement, any drones still alive blast me back. I can feel the heat from their lasers burn my skin. While there are no actual marks, it still hurts like hell.

Rocketing back my momentum is stopped as a white glove catches me. The glove disappears to reveal four figures floating overhead. The shock from the blast makes it hard to see exactly who it is, but I can take a guess. "I think I remember telling you to stay with the others. Not very good at following orders, are you?" I can hear Guy's voice from the group as he mocks me.

Another voice speaks up. I don't know this one, but it's deeper than the rest. "Ya, like you're one to talk about following orders."

While Guy and the unknown deep voice argue my vision begins to return. Two of the figures move in to reveal Hal and another man in a white uniform. "You okay kid? Might wanna get a check-up after today. Pretty sure you have a concussion."

"I'm pretty sure I should do a lot of things after today. Yesterday I had to accept a super intelligent ring that somehow senses my rage, the existence of aliens and also the fact that I'm now part of some blood cult. Today I've seen the literal edge of the Universe and a giant wall of statues."

"Ya, learning the Universe isn't so empty is a little rattling at first, but I'm sure you'll get over it soon." The man in the white uniform speaks up this time. "Names Kyle Rayner, nice to meet ya."

The argument Guy was having seems to be over as he and the other man join us. "So, introductions. John Stewart, this is Jaune Arc. John meet Jaune." Apparently, Guy was proud of his own joke, though if the expressions on the others faces was anything to go off of, he was alone.

"If you're done patting yourself on the back, we got bigger problems to deal with then Guy's bad sense of humor." John returns our attention to the enemy, the giant, pissed off, enemy.

"If we can force him to the Wall, then we can trap him in it. All we gotta do is make him touch it." Hal forms a game plan, all the while Relic rampages in the background. "If we get past those disks we can use our light on him."

"I don't recommend my way. Heads still ringin a little from my last stunt." I shake my head again to emphasis my dilemma. "Plus, I doubt he'd fall for that a second time."

"Don't worry. I have another idea in mind. Just gonna need a little help." Looking up a purple light shines down, revealing a woman holding a staff. "Indigo-1, can you teleport us between Relic and his reflectors – and keep us there?"

"Nok." The new lantern, now known as Indigo-1, envelops the four in a purple, or indigo if the name is anything to go off, sphere before disappearing. Before long I hear a familiar voice over by Relic. Guy, Hal, and the others begin to take the fight directly to Relic.

Our rampaging leader launches a blast of napalm blood directly into the eyes of their giant enemy. Flailing from the attack, John is hit by a stray punch, knocking him away from the fight. Another Indigo Lantern covers John in the same bubble as earlier, moving him back with the others.

The group draws closer to the Wall. Before long they decide to bail out, though Guy has to literally be dragged away kicking and screaming. Hal puts up a bubble around the group. Meanwhile Guy continues yell at his unwelcomed savior. The three of them seem to be alright at least.

Wait… weren't there four?

Looking back to the falling giant, I notice a single individual still pulling towards the Wall.

It's the White Lantern, Kyle.

The others seem to notice crying out for the suicidal man to pull out before it's too late. Carol fires a tether, to try and pull the fool out. Only for it to be intercepted by one of those damned floating disks. A thunderous eruption cries out from the Wall as a black substance begins to spill out from the spawning crack.

Right before the two make contact, a blinding light shines out from the White Lantern. Right before they sink into the Wall. The blackness that had been seeping out cease. Next thing anyone knows, a flood of white light explodes out. The explosion causes everyone to shield themselves from the blinding shine.

Soon the light begins to die down, allowing us to see to a degree again. From the point of entry on the Wall, a shadowy figure can be seen trying to pull itself out. I expected to see the returning hero. Instead, all we see is that giant psychopath trying to free himself.

"The Source! I found it at last. My theory is **true**!" The joy in his voice is confusing. This guy is about to become one with a mass graveyard. And yet he's acting like he just accomplished his lifelong goal. "The reservoir has been replenished. The _**White Lightsmith**_ was the solution." The ever-encroaching material of the Wall does nothing to dampen his excitement. " _ **Respect**_ the opportunity you've been given. My work… is finished."

The last thing he says are inaudible gurgles as the merging process finishes its work. He may have been a terrifying enemy once. Now, all he that remains is another statue, forever trapped.

The others process the last few moments. Hal collapses as he accepts the passing of the White Lantern. Of his friend, Kyle Rayner. John's ring announces his power level has reached 0. "He's… gone."

"He went down in the line of duty, and we'll all honor him for it. But right now, you need to get to everyone else to safety." Attempting to pull the depressed Green Lantern leader from his hole, Guy tries to keep his mind focused on survival.

"How? John is tapped, and the rest of us aren't far behind. I led the corps here, and we beat Relic, but for what? None of us are going home." His own ring announcing a 2% power level.

"Don't count on the Reds for help. They hear you Greens are out of juice, they'll bite your head off. Mine too, if I try to stop them. It's kind of an only-the-brutal-survive outfit." The others turn to me, probably seeing what I'm gonna do.

Putting my hands up in a defensive stance I try to wave off their suspensions. "Don't look at me. I just met you guys. No head biting from me."

Floating closer to the bubble, Carol places her hand out as Hal does the same. "Hal, I…"

"Go on, Carol. Get yourself to an atmosphere. I don't want you to see what happens."

An exasperated sigh escapes John's. "For crying out loud. You may be Corps. Leader, Hal, but not everything rests on your shoulders. I've already arranged a ticket home with the Indigos."

A short… blue man floats up next to our ever-growing group of colors. "We will remain her, Lantern Stewart. Lantern Rayner's passing must be mourned."

"Honor him for all of us." John turns to address our ride out of here. "Indigo-1, does you tribe have enough charge left to teleport us all away?"

"… Nok?" Weird, I thought our rings translated other languages for us.

All lanterns of every color gather as the Indigo's circle around us. The light of their staffs begins to light up. The lights connect to form a familiar bubble.

Next thing I know I'm falling into a bush.

Straight on my head.

I really should get my head looked at after today. If after everything after today doesn't give me a concussion, I don't know what will.

Voices call out further ahead. Walking towards it, light pours out, revealing a clearing with the others. Though I notice a distinct lack of Red's. Hal and John are in what I assume is there regular, talking to a short purple man with tribal marks.

"The Red Lanterns were teleported to their own world. Was this not correct?"

"He's back on _**Ysmault**_?" John places a hand on his head. "Stuck behind enemy lines."

Hal places a hand on John's shoulder to reassure him. "We'll get him back, John. It's my mess. I'll find a way to clean it up."

This seems like the best moment to interject. "Um, I don't think you got all the Red's."

The group turns, surprised by my presence. "Kid? Natromo, I thought you said all the Reds were sent back to Ysmault?"

"They should have been. I believe we picked out any that had red light in them." The short tribesman, now identified as Natromo, begins to inspect me with a curious look. "Strange. Perhaps it's because of the shortage of energy. No matter, it's an easy fix."

Indigo-1 gets ready to teleport me before Hal interjects. "Hang on a second. I need to say something." Walking up to stand face to face, noticing that he stands maybe an inch taller than me. "I wanted to say you did good out there, and to ask a favor. Can you look after Guy? I'm sure you haven't known him long, but you seem like a good kid."

"You want me, a 17-year-old kid, to look after a grown man?"

"Yep. Might help for Guy to be around some with the same maturity level as him."

"Not sure if that's a shot at me or him. I'll assume the latter and keep this relationship on good terms."

"That's the spirit. I'm sure you'll be able to handle it."

"Swell. Well I'll see ya guys later."

With our conversation over the Indigos teleport me back to Ysmault.

Right above several jagged rocks.

This day's been rough to say the least.


	7. This Ain't No Place for No Hero

**Suuuupppp. How is everyone? So, surprised to see an update so soon? Well don't get excited. This is only because I'm on a roll. I'll probably be on this for another chapter or two so we'll see.**

 **Now onto the story.**

 **Light of Remnant**

 **Ch. 7 This Ain't No Place for No Hero**

Following our miraculous defeat of the space giant, Relic, and the acquisition of our own sector, still have no idea what that means exactly, the Reds decided to throw a little celebration. By celebration I mean a straight up kegger on the ship. Which we have finally named, The Kaalvar.

Deciding to hold off on drinking myself into another head splitting migraine, I decide to walk the ship some more. Checking out the different utility rooms and going over what little Zox has been able to show me so far. Seeing as I'm most likely going to be helping him or Skallox with their own hobbies during my free time, I might as well memorize myself with them.

I just wish that there was something more to do around here. Going home is an option, I'm sure. Don't think Guy and the others would mind if I took a little time to myself to at least see my family and tell them my current situation.

Probably freak my parents to find out that their son is a space cop. My sisters will be sort of a mixed bag. Argente, Dore, and Marron, the eldest's, will be more concerned than anything, seeing as none of them wanted me to become a Huntsman, let alone what basically amounts to one on a universal scale. The youngest, Verte, Violette, and the twins, Blanche and Noire, will probably gush over their big brother becoming a superhero.

While thinking of my family, my mind wanders to those I thought I could see as family. One day at least. Team JNPR, or just NPR now, was alright in the beginning. As far as I could tell. Nora excited nature was flamboyant at first, but Ren's calm nature helped to offset it. Having a partner that was almost the polar opposite of you can be a good thing sometimes.

That's what I hoped with my own partner. Pyrrha seemed like a great partner at first. She was strong, kind, even helped me adjust to being team leader at first. Maybe that's why I felt bad for not telling her how I lied my way into Beacon.

After I told her, she reacted as I expected. Giving her space seemed like the best thing to do at the time. It might have even worked out if Cardin hadn't of heard us.

The spiral of events that came next slowly brought my world crumbling down. I lost the trust of my new friends, earned the ridicule of most of the student body. Everything was at an all-time low. The only hope I had was to try and reconcile with my team.

Apologizing to them was the best I could do in the beginning. Time and hard work would show if they would be willing to forgive me. That's what the mission Ozpin gave us was supposed to help with.

And in the end, they left me. In what little free time I've had so far, I keep playing it over and over again in my mind. I stayed behind to give the others time to get on the Bullhead. If worse came to worse than only one would die. But when I was almost there, they left. Couldn't even wait another minute to leave. The horde wasn't close enough for them to worry about.

The rage over the memories makes my blood boil. Some napalm leaks out of the corner of my mouth before I begin to calm down. I can't let the anger over take me. That isn't me. Though if the ring staying stuck to my finger is anything to go off of, it very well might be.

Checking the utility room that holds the central plumbing, I hear the sound of cheering above. Seems this room is right under the bar. Looking at some of the gauges to insure the repairs are working properly after our forceful acquiring of the spacecraft, I feel some hot liquid pelt my shoulder. Believing it to be a leaking pipe, I look up to see holes on the ceiling grow as red fluid spills down. Ducking out of the way, the unknown substance drops where I was standing. It continues to travel downward, making a new hole.

"What the in the world was that?" I realized that after I became connected to this ring, I've been noticing that my cursing has become more frequent.

Peering through the large hole in the ceiling Skallox and Bleez are standing around said hole talking, and a woozy looking Zox with a familiar red liquid covering what would be his chin. Looking down the new hole on the floor, it seems the blood spilled down into the next floor and straight out the bottom of the ship.

"Do you guys have any idea how long it'll take to patch this hole?!" Yelling up to the home wreckers above as I use my ring to clean up the leftover spill. With the containment finished I join the rest.

The drunken Zox attempts to pat me on the shoulder before missing entirely. "Sorry Jane ***burp*** I'll help you fix this later."

Soon Guy and Rankorr join us. "Heard my name."

The tipsy Zox puts a fist in the air in sloppy cheer. "Here's to Gard Guyner! Started Green, ended **Red**. Good enough for Zilius Zox."

"We were just speaking of the sector you obtained for un in exchange for defeating Relic." Skallox speaks up this time as he hands out a beer to Guy.

Taking the bottle, he rips off the cap and takes a sip of the alien brew. "Not just _**any**_ sector, Skallox. Our _ **own**_ sector. 2814."

There it is again. What's a sector exactly? "You guys talk about sectors all the time. I don't get it. They're… planets?" Seems Rankorr is just as confused as I am.

"Not exactly. There used to be these little blue space goblins. Called themselves the **Guardians**." And we have another complex and probably confusing explanation. "Way back they thought they could run the Universe. To make things easier, they broke it up into sectors. **3600** of them."

"Did anyone else get a say?"

"The **Guardians** weren't very democratic." Seems Bleez doesn't care much for the blue guys.

"They sound pretty arrogant." Anyone who believes they can just make up the rules as they seem fit won't inspire much confidence. That's what dad used to say at least. No matter how much we may have fought, I still agree with some of his beliefs.

"Either way, Ysmault is in sector 2814. Wanna know what else is in 2814?" The two earthlings break off into their own discussion. With the thought sectors in mind, I might as well see where Remnant is.

"Hey, ring. What sector is Remnant a part of?" If it's within the same space, visiting home will be a lot easier.

A ping emits from the super jewelry, **"Remnant is a part of sector 2815."**

Damn, one off. "Any idea if it's possible the use these rings to move a planet?"

"I'd have to call a few guys, but in the end, it'll be more trouble than it'd be worth." Yep, I knew it. Guy just confirmed it. Oh well, wishful thinking I gue-

…I'm just gonna forget that remark.

"If you're done talking about what-if's." Bleez uses the opportunity to speak up. "When the Green's patrolled the sector, they were the law. Now, we're the law."

"Bleez is right. And I figure the Reds should be the ones to protect Earth. Considering a third of us are from Earth, and technically half of us are human. It's only like one in a thousand for the Greens."

"There were more before."

"Huh?" Seems Guy doesn't know who Ran is talking about.

"There's the cat, right? Dex-starr. Unless there're space cats flying around, I assume he came from Earth. Think he'll come back?"

"Gardner better hope not." Skallox's warning doesn't seem to put much fear in the man being hunted by a killer kitty cat. I'd usually agree with him, but after these past few days anything with one of these rings could be dangerous.

Noticing Zox passing out on top of a table, I figure it would be for the best to lay him on his side in case he throws up. As I help the giant ball to the floor, I notice Ratchet mumbling to himself.

"You alright there, big man?"

He gets in a defensive stance, probably startled by my sudden question. "It is nothing for you to concern yourself with."

I don't take much offense to his rather rude behavior. Ratchet doesn't seem like the kind to do well with others. "Well, if you need to talk to someone I got free time."

"That is unnecessary… but thank you."

The others seem to be talking about a way to get the sectors attention, let them know who patrols this place now. "I believe I have an idea for that. We need to show the sector what we can do. Show them how we're different from the Green's. The Green's sit back and wait for threats to appear. They react. But were Reds. As our lord Atrocitus taught us, we exist so that others will not have to suffer as we did. We do not react. We **act**."

That seems a lot more noble than the initial view I had on these guys. They seemed more like violent killers when we first met. Looks like things aren't as black and white as it looked.

Though it doesn't look like Skallox shares the same beliefs. "No one wants to hear a sermon, Ratchet."

"This is not a _**sermon**_ , Skallox. This is a call to action. A call to purpose. We will find the evil in 2814, and we will destroy it." The floating brain's enthusiastic voice echoes around the room. "We must do something **public**. Something too big to be ignored."

"Alright. I got some open cases from when I was a Green, but—"

"No. I know what to do. I do not believe there is much time left." The moods taken a heavy turn all of a sudden. I miss the drinking. Oh man, am I turning into an alcoholic? "I would like to use that time to tell you about Field Marshal Gensui. Consider it a gift to your good friend Ratchet."

He goes on to tell us the rise of a tyrant on a far-off world, called Kormorax. Gensui stole the freedom for its inhabitants. Any that disobeyed were executed. To make the take-over easier he enslaved the other race of people living on the planet. Using the slaves as labor, they went to work remaking the planet in his image. After his planet was finished, he moved to his star to build something called a Dyson Sphere.

"I feel like I've heard of something like this in a comic once."

"What in god's name is a Dyson Sphere?" Ran's question seems to irritate our resident crimson angel.

"Are humans in general this dull, or is it just these two. The bright twinkly lights in the sky are called _**stars**_ , you idiots. A Dyson Sphere—"

"Hold on. My department. Let me - _urp_ \- handle this." The drunken Zox finally wakes from his minor nap. "A Dyson Sphere is when you build something around a sun to gather energy, not just the little bit on the surface. The entire energy of a star, all to yourself. One of my favorite kinda sphere."

Oh… oh no. That's not good.

The puzzled expression on Ran tells me he doesn't get it. "And what do you use a Dyson Sphere for?"

Bleez looks like she's about to tell him off before I intervene. "He's gonna use it as a weapon. A giant satellite that can destroy anything in its path."

"Hmph, seems one of you is smart enough to understand something so simple."

"Shut it, Bleez. Name me one Pink Floyd tune. Just one. You can't, I'll wager. Lack of education is a relative thing, missie." Falling into his seat, the flame headed earthling face palms. "Unbelievable."

"What?"

"The guy has a freakin _**Death Star**_!"

I raise my hand to get the others attention. "Alright, my turn to ask a stupid question. What's a Death Star?"

"I'll tell ya later, mate. We'll make it a movie night." Taking another sip, Ran continues. "So, aside from the star thing, the guy still has a plant worth of soldiers. We may be strong, but there are only seven of us."

"That wouldn't have stopped Atrocitus—" An angry Skallox interrupts Ratchet from his continuing his train of thought.

"I might have an idea about that." Bleez puts her finger up in an effort to make a point. "I've been looking through the ships records to see what's there."

"Waste of time." After his last was spilled (thrown) Skallox grabs another.

"Not so. Information is a weapon. You kill your enemies, they're never useful again. Blackmail them, and they can be useful forever." Done with the blood thirsty goat man, the blue skinned angel speaks to Guy. "Barg knew Gensui. The pirate we took the ship from. The one you killed. Apparently, Barg knew just about every scum in the sector."

"So, you think we can maybe sneak past Ginsu's security with the ship? Unless you've got a spar Brag in your back pocket, I don't know what that does for us."

"Maybe we do." Ran's body is covered in a red glow one second, the next a purple humanoid with tendrils for a chin is sitting in his place.

" **Ah!** " Guy exclaims in surprise at the sudden transformation of our fellow human.

"I can use my constructs to change how I look. It's a bit difficult, and I can't keep it up for long, but I can do it." Ran transforms back to his flaming haired self as Guy formulates a game plan.

Ran, disguised as Barg, will land on the planet with Guy, Skallox, and Bleez as his body guards. Bleez passes on the lovely opportunity to be his um… forced bed buddy. Ratchet will be the manservant. Zox and I will stay on the ship in case they need back-up. At first, I thought he was just gonna keep me on the side lines again, but he made a point about me being inexperienced. The fight with Relic was one thing, this is a whole planet, and we don't get a full Green Lantern Corp backing us up.

While on the ship I'll help Zox get what we we're working on earlier up and ready. If it works like he says it should, if all else fails they'll have some good back-up.

* * *

"Jaune, pass me that splicer."

"Got it!" Handing down the tool to Zox, I look at the ships systems to see if everything is working like he said it should. "So, how do ya think they're doing in there?"

 _ ***Boom***_

An explosion is heard of in the distance, making the ship shake a little. "… Pretty good I think."

" **Zox! Jaune!"** Guy radios through our rings.

"Gardner, do you need back-up? I've almost got the ship ready."

" **We've been made. The whole thing was a trap. They'll be coming for you. You two gotta get out of there."**

"Want us to pull the ship around?"

" **Leave the damn ship! Just get outta here! Don't worry about us, we'll get out. Meet you back on—"** Static takes over as the line's cut off.

"Guy!? Can ya hear me!? Guy?!" I try to reestablish contact, but to no avail.

Zox pulls himself out from where he was working, "Get over to the controls. Get us into orbit."

Rushing over to the pilots seat I realize something. "Um, I don't know how to fly this thing."

The big ball face palms before pointing at a red button. "Push that button! After the engines start push that lever forward. It'll accelerate us. Pull up on the wheel when we have enough speed and keep us in orbit."

Following his commands, my hand shakes a little at the thought of piloting a spaceship for the first time. After the engines rev up, the ship lurches forward, accelerating faster and faster. Before we hit a building, I turn the wheel to the side, narrowly avoiding it. The sound of Zox rolling and cursing can be heard in the background. "Sorry."

Finally pulling up, I begin the ascent to orbit. After escaping the atmosphere, I set the ship to auto-pilot while I help Zox. "You are a terrible driver."

"Hey, what do ya want. It's my first time."

"Ugh, keep the ship on auto pilot for now. The A.I. will take care of the rest. Help me finish this up." Pulling over the device we were going to hook up to the engine, we begin the final stages.

Before long, the modifications are almost done. Then we see the light through the window.

"Ohhh no." The sun weapon that they were working on fired a giant laser at us. It'll hit the ship in a few seconds, destroying it, and us with it.

"Help me get this baby fired up!" Zox shoves his ring arm in the opening of the device, he blasts the thing with the power of his ring. Meanwhile, I'm providing a secondary power source by channeling my energy through him. "Come on. Come on!"

Right before the blast hits us, the entire ship is covered in a red energy shield. Seems like everything worked. "All right! We're not dead!"

"You're right, but the others still need help. Wanna take this baby for a test drive?"

"Does that mean I ca—"

"No, you can't fly. But you can operate the guns." Oh well. At least I get to blow something up. Hoping on the gun controls, the cannons warm up as we rocket back towards the location of the others.

"Woohoo! ZZ blob and Vomit-boy to the rescue!"

"I knew I shouldn't have told you that!"

As we get into range, I open fire on the guards surrounding the group. With the others free the rest of the cannons are set to give cover fire. While waiting for the rest to make their way to the ship, we look over the ship to ensure there's no damage from killer sun beam.

"I'm surprised how well that worked. Didn't think we could take a hit like that."

"If ya think that's cool, wait till you see how it handles a real fight." The sound of the bay door opening can be heard as we make our way towards the hangar. "Did you guys see that? **Booooom**. Amazing, right? I me—" Entering the hangar, we saw the down looks on the others face's. Along with Ratchets body. "Oh no."

Guy continues to walk past of. The rage is coming off of him in waves. I can't believe he hasn't gone mad from how angry he seems. "Take out every military instillation you can find on the surface. Every troop formation, every tank, wreck it all. And then blow up that sphere thing around the star. I don't want Kormorax threatening this sector ever again."

"Okay, no problem, but how did Ratchet—"

"Just _**do it**_. And then let's get the hell home."

Leaving us to our job, Guy heads to his room. I start to feel something familiar. It's rage, but not the normal kind. It reminds me of when I first got the ring. The kind of rage you feel when you lose something.

Following Zox to the bridge, we target every instillation that we can find and prepare the cannons. We decide to operate some of them manually. It feels better to pull the trigger ourselves than simply pushing a button.

After all the bases are destroyed, we head back home. To bury Ratchet. To mourn.

* * *

The day after we buried Ratchet, Guy called me in private to talk. I met him on a cliff overlooking the lake. Since yesterday he's had a serious expression plastered to his face. "You wanted to see me?"

He was sitting on a rock near the edge. "Ya, go ahead and sit down." He signals me to sit on the rock near him, but I decide to make something more comfortable.

Using my ring, I make a construct of a recliner chair. Leaning back in the chair, the soft light-hard material allows me to sink in. It seems that the feeling of the construct can change depending on what you imagine. "Like it? Been messing with the ring a little, practicing some different objects and shapes."

"That's cool. Listen, I need to tell you something. It's about Ratchet." Taking a moment, he takes a deep breath before continuing. "The reason why Ratchet was so eager to go on that mission, was because his ring was leaving him."

"So, he wanted to do one last mission before he was left without a ring?" Why would he call me up here just for that? Sure, Ratchet leaving the group would be a little sad, but it's not like we would just abandon him.

"Yes. But there's a reason it was such a big deal for his ring to leave. A Red Lantern's ring is different from the other corps. The ring isn't just a tool that gives us power. It's our hearts as well. When the ring leaves us, it means that our heart is leaving us."

My blood runs cold at the revelation. Looking down at my shaky hand, I trace the ring on my finger. "That means, if the ring leaves, if our heart leaves, then we die?"

"… Yes. I wanted to let you know. Since our rings can leave us if we let go of our rage, I thought it would be best for you to know." Silence passes between us. Neither one of us say a word.

"I… need some time to think about this. A couple of days."

"That's fine." He places his hand on my shoulder as he gets up. "Take your time. If you need to talk about anything, I'll be here."

Giving my thinks, Guy leaves me to my thoughts. My head falls into my hands as the news sinks in. If I ever lose my ring, then that's it. I'm dead.

I need to take some time to myself.

I need to head home.

* * *

 **Sector 2815, Vale.**

 **Beacon Tower.**

These past few days have been rather trying. Handling the media after word of Mr. Arc's death has been difficult. Students dying on a mission are rare, but those are senior students on their own missions. Even then the casualty rate is extremely low. Though none have faced a mission that had such a drastic turn of events.

I've been able to keep the media at bay, but it's only a matter of time before I have to give an official statement. Before then, I would like to talk with the Arc family. Give them some time to grieve and mourn their fallen son before the reporters descend on them.

It's the very least I can do. After everything I've done to them.

The door to my elevator opens, revealing Professor Goodwitch. "Headmaster, here are the recent documents from the Council regarding the Vytal Festival."

"Thank you." Ever since the loss of Mr. Arc, the Witch of Beacon has lost her usual stern appearance. While she has not allowed the students to see any sign of weakness in their teacher, her colleagues have noticed her depressed appearance.

Mr. Arc may not have been her best student by far, but he was the one who had perhaps the most heart, aside from Ms. Rose, but that could be seen as more of a childish nature than a drive to improve. The young boy had made great strides to improve in the few weeks that he had been here. While not as good as his peers, it would not be long before he could stand on even ground with them. Those kinds of students have always been a weak spot for the blond professor. Or maybe just this student in particular.

Leaving me to my work, she takes the elevator back towards the ground floor. Deciding to keep my mind bust with these new additions will hopefully keep me from feeling bad for myself.


	8. This Ain't No Place for No Little Man

**Oh my god, two updates so fast!? I know, but don't expect much for these next couple of days. I got really into these last few chapters so I wanted to use that drive. I will leave you guys with the story for now.**

 **Side note. If anyone has a pairing they would like to see, PM or leave a comment. It can be anything. Lancaster, Arkos, Firewall, The Shield (JaunexSupergirl), anything.**

 **Light of Remnant**

 **Ch. 8**

 **This Ain't No Place for No Little Man**

The journey back to Remnant took longer than when I left. Deciding it would be best to take some quiet time to myself, the vast emptiness of space helped give me thinking room. With the realization that if the ring were to ever some off, it would mean not just the end of my time as a Red Lantern, but also the end of my life.

Even when I think I come into something great, I can't catch a break. It's better than being mauled and eaten at the hand of that Grimm horde, I suppose. Still, could be worse. At least for now I have a kick-butt piece of jewelry that allows me to become an honest superhero.

" **Now approaching Remnant."** The notification from the ring informs me that I've begun my descent onto Remnant. Seeing the planet from so far away, I realize how small everything is. Also, the fact that I'm probably the first person, human or Faunus, to ever see the world from this view.

Entering the atmosphere is a lot smoother than I first believed. The ring handles any problems to do with life support. All I gotta do is handle the flight. Looking at the landscape below, I realize that I must be over the western part of Sanus. In the distance, man-made structures can be seen. Too large to be any settlements. It must be Vacuo.

Flying low, I skim over the surface of the desert, parting the sand as I soar over it. **"Warning! Multiple lifeforms detected within the vicinity."** The ring brings up a map, projecting it before me. On said map are four light red dots, and three, larger, dark red dots. A scream can be heard from the direction of the life forms.

Coming upon the scene, there's a large car that looks like it's outfitted for the desert terrain. Inside the vehicle are four boys, all looking to be around 13 or so. Surrounding them are three large worm like Grimm. Each looked to be 30 feet long or so with spiked bone protrusions spaced out every 5 feet or so. Rows of teeth fill the circular maw of the beast, each tooth looking like it could rip a car apart.

The Grimm circle the vehicle as the boys inside panic. Leaving them would mean certain death. As I charge at the beasts, one readies itself to lunge for its prey. Before it has the chance to take a bite I cast a muzzle with a chain on it. Pulling on the chain, the Grimm is yanked 20 feet into the air.

The Grimm flails as it tries to search for anything for it to grab. With the full body exposed I use a buzz saw to cut the worm in half. The two others now recognize my presence. The first on the right attempts to spit some sort of acid substance. A shield stops the worm's spit from getting very far, but it gives the second a chance to attack my flank. All I see is a giant mouth before the sun is blacked out. Traveling down the throat of the is slimy, and the acid lining it would burn my skin if it wasn't for the barrier just over my skin.

I stop my descent into the worm by expanding my barrier into a bubble that pushed along the walls of the dark tunnel. An idea forms as I change the bubble into a jack. The handle cranks to raise the jack as it begins to rip through the lining of the throat.

The jack causes the worm to burst. Back out in the light allows me to see the final worm returning to attack the vehicle. I fire a beam in front to stop the beast in its tracks. The attack causes it to turn its attention back on me. I project a giant spiked boot to stomp the creature before it even gets the chance to strike.

"This seems way easier than I remember it being." I float down now to check on the kids in the car. I knock on the window to check in on them. "Your guys okay? The Grimm are gone now." The four spill out of the door to see the decaying bodies of the Grimm up close.

They stare slack jawed at the sight of the monsters that were moments away from eating them, now fading to nothing.

"That was so cool!"

"Did you see him cut that Were-worm!?"

"Forget that! How about when he got eaten and blew it up from the inside!"

The conversations continue for a few more minutes as they each go back and forth on the events that just played before their eyes. Meanwhile the fourth boy stays quiet in the back. They return their attention to me as they finish.

"Hey, mister! Are you a Huntsman?"

"You idiot! He's too young to be a Huntsman. He's probably a Huntsman in training."

"He has to be a Huntsman. I've never heard of someone in training being able to take down a Were-worm by themselves, let alone three." The bickering continues between the three. The quiet boy tries to break up the fight. He tells them it's rude to ignore someone, especially when they saved them.

While they bicker between each other I get a good look at them. The first boy has short black hair that's spiked at the front. Next is the, who second boy had dark purple hair comb-over to the side. The third kid has caramel brown wavy hair that curls upwards to the right. Finally, is the quiet child with red hair which is long enough to somewhat cover his eyes.

"G- guys? I think it's rude to keep ignoring him like this." The timid boy continues in his attempts to break up the fight.

In the end, they return their attention to me. "Who are you anyways? Never seen you around here before. You from a nearby settlement?" It's the black haired one that asks me.

I shake my head to deny him. "No, I'm from Vale. I was just passing through the area when I saw the attack."

"Vale? Then you are a Huntsmen. Why else would you be all the way out here?" This time the caramel head speaks up.

"That doesn't mean he's a Huntsmen, Auburn. He might just be on a trip. Maybe he's a nomad, trailing the world, never needing the enter a huntsman school in the first place." Seems the black haired one has some rather creative views.

"Really Jet, a monk? Seems more like a berserker knight." Purple corrects his friend, Jet, on the class I would play in a RPG.

"You're such a nerd, Sterling. This is why we're you're only friends."

"That's mean, Jet. You shouldn't say that." The read head makes a meek attempt to defend his friend.

"Why don't you shut it, Rusty? I don't wanna hear that from a mommy's boy."

I step in between the group to stop another fight from starting. "Alright guys, let's stop. You guy's should head back home. Before any more Grimm show up."

"Um…" The four kick around sand or scratch the back of their heads at my suggestion. Rusty even begins to tear up a little. "We kinda can't."

"And why not?"

"Our tires are sorta… flat. We were pulling stunts and popped some of the tires."

I fail to keep myself from face-palming. Of course. Why not?

"Alright, stand back. I got an idea." With the group away from the car, I begin to build a construct to get us back to Vacuo. I start by making something to carry the wrecked vehicle. Air transport would be for the best. That way no Grimm can get us easily.

I use the Kaalvar as model but scale it down some to save time and power. From there I create tethers to grab hold of the car. I put on the finishing touches, even put my own signature on it where the Reds logo is by putting my twin arcs behind it.

"Okay everyone, who wants a ride?" Their hands rocket up so fast I think they almost break the sound barrier. "Hop in. I'll drop you all off, then head on."

We file in and make our way to the desert oasis of Vacuo. The boys look at the interior of the ship. Oohing and aahing at the wonder of it all.

"This is a kick ass Semblance you got. I've never seen one that could do something like this before."

I give a quick smack to the back of Jet's head. "No cursing on this ship. Another word like that and I'll kick you out." The boy just grumbles and rubs the back of his head.

I change the color of the ship, similar in the way that Ran did when he transformed into Brig, to keep the guards from becoming suspicions. Auburn tells me of a place we can land that the guards won't notice us.

After landing we drop the vehicle at an empty lot before descending. We then take the car back to Jet's home on wheels made by constructs. To keep the civilians from being suspicious of me I transform my out to what it looked like before I got the ring. Only for the addition of the Red symbol on my chest plate.

"Alright, we're good. Now let's go before my parents show up. Or god forbid, my sister. She's absolutely ter—"

"Absolutely, what?"

Jet's cut off by an unknown voice by the garage entrance. It sounds feminine. Standing there in the entrance are four girls. Each with a varying expressions of anger. The shortest one in front with black hair steps forward with her arms crossed in front of her chest.

"Your sister is absolutely what again? Terrific? Is that what you were gonna say? Because if not, your punishment is gonna be much worse than it was for sneaking out with dad's car."

"S-s-si-sis?! What're you doing here?! I thought you were at school?" He attempts to step back, but before he can get far his legs are swept out from under him. As he drops to the floor, his dark-haired sibling flips him mid-air onto his back. He falls onto the ground with a thud. His sister jumps on his back and pulls him into a Camel Clutch.

"Do you have any idea how worried mom and dad are? You left without telling anyone. Mom called me and said you ran off into the desert with Auburn, Rusty, and Starling. The girls and I were gonna have to come out to get you."

Both Auburn and Starling are getting their ears pulled by girls that seem to be their sisters if the similarities are anything. Rusty looks down in shame as his own sister stands before him. She raises her hand into the air before delivering a light chop to the top of his head. While it didn't seem to hurt much, he starts to cry a bit.

Watching them get told off by their sisters remind me of why I came here in the first place. My families probably concerned about me. It's been a few days since I left. I'm sure Beacon's called to inform them that I'm either dead or missing.

"So, who's the blonde? Never seen him around him before." Rusty's sister finishes her sermon, and finally notices my presence.

"He's a Huntsmen! He saved us from the Grimm that attack us." For the first time since I met him, Rusty speaks without a hint of hesitation or fear.

" **YOU WERE ATTACKED BY GRIMM!?"** All four sisters exclaim in shock at the revelation of the danger their brothers were in. Jet's sister changes the Camel Clutch to a Sideways Headlock.

"Ow, ow, ow, owowowow! Stop it you midget! That hurts."

"What did you call me?!" The black-haired siblings continue their squabble in the background.

"Hmmm." Rusty's sister is staring me in the face. She's standing a few feet from me now. "You don't look old enough to be a Huntsman. More like a Huntsman-in-training. But I haven't seen you around Shade before."

"I'm actually not from around here. I live in Vale, but I was passing through this area." I continue to explain to them what happened. It comforts them somewhat to know that their brothers weren't hurt. Still didn't stop them from promising punishment later.

"Well, either way. Thank you so much for saving our idiot brothers." Sterling's sister, Nebula, thanks me for helping.

"No problem. Couldn't just let them get eaten now, could I."

We leave the garage and make our way through the streets of the city. Everywhere I look it's the same. The entire place looks lawless. The market place has thinly veiled secret dealings that no one seems to find that odd.

"Try not to let the place get to you. That's just how things are around here." The red-head, Octavia, tries to reassure me that there's nothing to worry about.

"It's fine. I've seen worse things than this." Remembering the bodies, we found we found on the ship, the people that were enslaved to do the work of a tyrant. This isn't nearly as bad.

"Enough of the drama. What're our plans now? Gonna stick around?" Auburn's sister, Dew, speaks up from my right.

"I'm gonna be heading out soon. I was actually on my way to see my family."

"What? Come on man, you gotta stick around for a little bit. I can show you some awesome places around here." Jet attempts to get me to stay longer. Before his sister, Gwen, drives her elbow into his ribs.

"I wouldn't trust you to show him around. Knowing your habits, you'd probably take him to some sleazy hole, or try to get him to help you sneak into a bar." The shorter girl wraps her arm around mine. "I'd be much better for someone like me to do it."

"Wow Gwen. Already making moves on the guy. Didn't think you were the type." Nebula teases her friend for he attempts to flirt.

"What can I say. Strong guys are hot."

"Speaking of strong, I've never heard of someone our age taking down a Were-worm by themselves. Let alone three." Octavia marvels at my accomplishment over the defeat of the Grimm.

That does raise an excellent question. How do I explain how I beat those worms? Saying that my ring from out space gave me the power to do it would sound crazy. On the other hand, I'm not exactly the best at lying if past experiences are anything sign. Maybe I should try a half truth.

"It's my ability. I can control light to a degree. Anything I can imagine becomes a solid construct out of it. The more thought I put into it, the stronger it is. The only limit seems to be my imagination." That should work. It's pretty much what the ring does. Leaving out the part about my rage fueling it sounded like it was for the best. Rather not scare them off.

"That sounds like an over-powered Semblance. Does it drain your Aura at a faster rate, or take intense concentration?" Dew inquiries into the specifics of my ability. Seems it's just as broken on this world as I thought.

"Not too much. I haven't had any problems with energy drain, and after a while creating a construct becomes second nature. It only takes intense focus when I'm up against something serious." Like an alien army, or a giant death laser.

"Plus, he can fly. You shoulda seen him. He was like * **zoom*** and ***whoosh***! It was so cool!" The younger purple haired boy exclaims my exploits to the girls, adding sound effects for added wonder. "Then he made an airship to carry the car back home. Even his appearance can change."

Nebula looks at me like I'm a problem that keeps getting more and more complex. "You can transform now too?"

"Yep." To emphasis my point, I change my form again. This time into the curious girl. She takes a moment to look me over.

"It's like I'm looking in a mirror." She continues her observation as she walks behind me. "Can you change your appearance into anything? Or is it just something close to your size?"

I change back to my usual good-looking appearance, didn't want to creep anyone out by continuing to look like a girl. "Not sure. I haven't tried it out too much, but I think as long as it's around the same size or larger I can do it. The only problem is the concentration."

Gwen tightens her hold on my arm with a satisfied smile on her face. "You just get better and better, don't you? Maybe I should make you stay after all."

A weak laugh is all I can give as my face begin to adorn the same color as my Corps. The sun begins to set over head. It's probably later in the afternoon by now. "As tempting as that is, I'm afraid I gotta go. It's starting to get late and I need to head out before it gets dark."

The shorter girl let's go of my arm with a faux expression of sadness. "Aw, that's too bad. You're cute too. Oh, well. This will have to do I guess."

Before I even get time to ask what she meant, she leans up and delivers a quick kiss to my cheek. "There. Your reward for being the big hero."

All I can do is stutter at the sudden show of affection. "W-w-well t-that's real kind of you, but I really gotta get going." Signaling my exit, I take off. The blood rushing to my head must be clouding my mind, because I decide to show off some and take to the sky a few feet away from them. Saluting with two fingers, I resume my journey back home.


	9. Homecoming

**And I'm back. Little late but I've been dealing with somethings. My dad was admitted to the hospital with high blood pressure and my grandpa just got diagnosed with cancer. Been kinda hard recently so it took a bit longer.**

 **Enough of that right now. I gotta ask something about the pairing. If I did the Supergirl paring than I would need almost entirely get rid of her run in the comics to make her relevant in this story, so if you want her that's what I'll have to do.**

 **Another note. If I did a harem would everyone be okay with that or not. The way I would spin it is that Remnant does have polygamy, it's just not that spread. More than here on Earth, but not enough that it's something you'll see every day.**

 **Alright now onto the story.**

 **Light of Remnant**

 **Ch. 9**

 **Homecoming**

I've been up here for probably half an hour now. The breeze flows though my jacket. It seemed like a better idea to show up in regular attire than decked out in full body armor. The time it took to get here from Vacuo was only a few minutes. The ring never ceases to amaze me. Continuing my observing of the place that I called home for so many years, it feels like forever since I last saw it when it's only been a few months.

The house is rather large compared to the neighboring home in the village. A three-story tall behemoth. The area surrounding the home is clear, except for a large rock embedded in the ground close to the edge of the forest.

Memories of my time here begin to come back. Familiar sounds resonate on my head. The sound of footsteps echoing through the halls as the children ran across them. The noise of cheering and laughter of a family enjoying the company of one another. The scent of fresh baked pies, cakes, cookies, and other assorted baked goods.

Of course, along with the good memories, comes the bad. The disappointed look of my father as I fail to meet his expectations. The celebration of my sister's acceptance to various combat schools. While I remain in the shadows, free to join them, but to bitter to partake in the merrymaking.

Bitter sweet memories continue to play out. A voice from below rouses me from my memory stupor. A young pale blonde, almost silver haired woman, looking no older than her early twenties calls out to a little girl playing close to the path leading to the homestead. The child is a mirror image of the older woman, except for a tint of purple at the in her hair. Quickly, the girl joins the older woman inside.

' _Mom… Violette.'_

As the forms of my mother and sister disappear, a pit grows in my stomach. This entire situation suddenly became so much harder. I know they're my family. Of course, they would accept me.

On the other hand, I left them without saying a word. Leaving them behind while I selfishly started my path to a hero. None of them wanted me to be a Huntsman. A part of me hated them for that. A family should support each other's desire to become a Huntsman. Instead they choose to bar my path. Telling me to give up and look for something else.

The knuckles of my hand crack as I tighten my fist. Red energy begins to seep from my body and my vision begins to turn into a similar color. The only thing that saves me are they good memories of our time together.

This was another reason I'm hesitant to see them. The ring influences my emotions. Anything they do could trigger me. In my anger, I have no idea what I might do. Scenarios of me brutally beating my father to death, stabbing my mother through the chest, spewing my sisters in red plasma. Every single one of them fills my heart with **Fear**.

The hesitation lingers for a bit longer as I weigh the situation. On one hand, they need to know that I'm okay. Give them some peace of mind. Before I probably leave them forever. But if I do that, then it'll just cause more pain. To gain their loved one back, only to lose him the next minute.

I take the silent approach and decide to look in the living room window to see how they're doing. Peering inside I see that not just the youngest, but even the older siblings, which left to live their own lives. The sullen expressions of Dore and Marron tells me that they were probably called in by my parents and told about what they believe happened to me. Even the usual stern Argente has cracks in her usual neutral expression.

The younger sisters continue to play with one another for the most part. The only one that seems different is Verte. With her being the oldest after me, it's safe to assume that she's probably been told the same thing as the others.

Leaving the window, I move to the door. My fist hangs in the air before it. The moment I knock on that door, there's no going back. No, this must happen. They need to know I'm alright. If they continue with the belief that I'm dead, it'll scar them.

The sudden knocking on the door startles me. Not realizing that my hand had moved on its own. Perhaps I did it subconsciously to stop myself from turning back. Rustling can be heard from inside as someone makes their way to answer the door.

When the door opens it reveals the youngest siblings. The twins Blanche and Noire. Blanche is the older twin by a minute, but that doesn't change the fact that they look the same, save for a slight difference in the tint of their hair. Blanche was born with pale, almost bleach white hair. Noire has a dark tint on the tips of her hair that looks black in certain lighting. Even with them being twins, all the Arc sisters look the same for the most part. The only way someone can tell the difference between all of them is the way their hair is styled and the color. Some even dyed it to be more distinct from their siblings. Overall, each one looks like a younger version of my mother, who herself can pass for one of my sisters.

"Look look!"

"Big brothers back!"

The twins bounce in excitement over my return. Each latch onto a separate leg before letting go. Neither have changed a bit. Though I suppose it hasn't been that long. Blanche and Noire are sorta like those twins you see in movies, or books. The kind that always seem to be connected at the him, finishing each other's sentences, sharing the same interests. Usually kids like to try and have something different from their siblings, but not these two. They take pride in how close they are.

A stampede of footsteps travels down the hallway. The first to arrive was my mother, Isabelle Arc. Her short stature seemed more pronounced than I last remembered. She might only come up to my chest, but it seems different now. Growing up she always babied me the most. Maybe it was because I was her only baby boy. Her blue eyes stare at me in disbelief. It was the kind of look that begged for something that she knew would never come.

Dad's the next to show up. Michael Arc was a rather imposing man. Standing a little over six-and-a half feet. Most of my looks I got from my mom. His hair, for instance, was shorter, and darker than my own, cut like someone who served in the military. He used to say it was best to keep it short. That way it made it harder for Grimm and other opponents to grab it. His eyes were different too, having more of a green tint. There appear to be bags growing under his eye's, along with a five o'clock shadow on his chin.

The oldest come in next. Argente keeps a neutral expression, though a small twitch on the corner of her lips tells me that she's glad to see I'm safe. It doesn't mean that she isn't happy to see me. She's never been one to show much emotion. The role of the strict older sister can be personified with how she acts within the family. Explains why she decided to go into the Atlas military. Last I heard, she was close to obtaining the position of the youngest General ever.

Dore was always the coolest of my sisters. Opposite of Argente's silver hair, her's is almost golden. If you needed help with anything, whether it be choosing the right clothes for a date, or playing a prank on the others, she was the sister you would call.

Apart of me wants to compare her to Yang, but I stop myself. While the two share similarities, in the end Dore always makes sure any problem we have, we fix with our own two hands. She'll give you a push in the right direction, but you must carry the problem on your own. Break a vase while playing inside, she'll help you clean up the mess, but it's up to you to tell mom and dad that you did it.

Yang, on the other hand, seemed to baby Ruby to much when it came to the harder problems. If she looked like she was struggling than she'd help her do half the work, whether she wanted it or not. While this seems like a good thing, it creates a sense of dependency. Never letting her truly fail. Dore would let us fail to understand that not everything works out.

After seeing that being a Huntress wasn't for her, she decided to go into the field of entertainment. For a few years she worked at bar in Vale. Never heard the name of it though, but mom said that I shouldn't go there. Recently she left the place and opened her own bar. It's nothing extravagant yet but give her some time and I'm sure it'll be the biggest night time hangout in the city.

Despite being one of the oldest, Marron's always been the most emotional of the family. She's always been one to smother someone if they seem down. If she heard you had a bad day, then you better expect something extravagant coming your way. Scrape your knee on something and she'll cry more than you will.

Like Dore, after finishing combat school, she gave up on being a Huntress. It didn't sit right with her considering most of the time Huntsman and Huntress' seem more like glorified bounty hunters than saviors. Her words not mine. Instead she chose to get a career in education, looking to teach younger generations and open-up her own pre-school when she developed enough experience.

If Marron uses her emotions to show how much she cares, then Verte would be her opposite. Her hair the most distinct from the others, being only just past her hair and dyed a bright green. While she's four years younger than I am, her attitude is a lot rougher than anyone else's in the family. The only one that can handle her abrasive personality is my dad and I, mostly because she tends to get physical when she's angry.

Dad can take the hits no problem. I, on the other hand, had to sit there until she's done with her tantrum. Not the healthiest relationship, but for some reason I'm the only one that can talk her down. Maybe it's because I raised her the most. The others tried to help, but ever since she was a baby she's been like this, only ever calming down when I was holding her, or sleeping in the same bed as her. For some reason she stopped doing this a couple years back after she entered middle school. Probably just finally growing up.

Last, but not least, is Violette. Growing up it was hard to tell who the older sibling between us was with how mature she acts. It's sad to say, but I've come home more than once to tell her how a girl I tried to ask out turned me down. It wasn't my fault most of the time. I used Dore's pick-up lines. She guaranteed that they would work on any girl.

Whenever I got bullied, she'd lend me a shoulder to cry on. Marron was too soft to deal with me being black and blue in the face. She'd probably have a heart attack if she saw blood running down my nose. Violette could keep herself composed during these times and gave me someone to talk to. Our relationship really is backwards, isn't it?

With the entire family packed into the entryway it begins to feel a little cramped. Surprisingly, the first to move is Verte. She runs forward before latching onto me. Her tiny arms wrap around my torso as her hands grab ahold of my jacket in a death grip.

"I knew they were lying. I knew you weren't dead. I-I—" Through her tears and muffled voice I can make out what she's saying. They did tell her after all it seems. Eventually she lets go. Before punching me right in the stomach. "HOW COULD YOU JUST LEAVE WITHOUT SAYING ANYTHING, YOU JERK?!"

And right there, she went from happy to see me, to angry and violent. Looks like she's fine now. Ordinarily the ring would put up a barrier to block the punch on reflex, but my subconscious must've stopped that from happening. Didn't want to damage her hand.

Before the little fighter can land another blow my mother steps in. She pulls back her daughter and stands before me. Slowly, she reaches out with both hands for my face. With both hands now on my cheek she looks into my eyes.

"Is it… Is it really you?"

The corner of her eyes begins to tear up as she continues to stare at me. Taking hold of both her hands I look at her with a reassuring smile. "Ya mom, it's me. I'm home." She immediately falls into my chest in a burst of tears. Her muffled cries can be heard from the others as they seemed to smile for the most part.

Looking at the group I notice the only one not smiling is my father. His eyes are set in a dead stare as my mother continues to cry in my arms. The man steps forward after the crying woman gets some time with her recently returned son.

"Why don't we move this to the living room. It's starting to get crowded in here."

Agreeing with the patriarch's advice we convene to the next room. My sisters take the seating on the large 'L' shaped sofa while my parents take the two-seater near the fire place. It was strange to see my father not sitting in his usual recliner. That's when I realize what they did. There's nowhere for me to sit except the single chair facing the others at the center.

Taking my place in the solitary chair I notice the others looking at me with missed expressions. My father stares at me with the usual stern look he had when he needed to discipline us. To make the situation seem bigger he would make us sit in his recliner. That was everyone could see us.

Silence hangs in the air for what seems like an eternity. Everyone waits for my father to speak-up first. "Now then, I have very much to say about your decision to leave this house without our consent. You had the gull to run away from your family." Marron, Blanche, and Noire shake at the implications of his words. I prepare myself for the scolding of a life time. "But, you've returned home. We can hold off on any punishment until later."

He gets up from his seat and makes his way across the room to place his hand on my shoulder. "For now, I'm just glad that you're home safe." Kneeling to look at me at eye level he pulls me into a tight hug. Something wet drips onto my shoulder that his head is resting on. He doesn't want to show the others his current state. At the very least I can honor that for what I've put him through.

The hug ends as he stands back up. His eyes are dry again and a jovial smile adorns his lips. "We were just about to eat dinner. Your mother will set another place at the dinner table. I'll get the food ready."

The family all cheer before heading into the dining room to eat. A long table stretches across the room. It's big enough to fit a group of people twice our size, and rightfully so. Whenever family or company would come over it would be rude for them to have to sit on one of the couches while everyone else sat at the table. We wait for a few minutes as our parents grab dinner from the kitchen. Small talk is passed around as the younger siblings ask their big sisters what living by themselves is like.

Verte keeps passing glances at me. Some are sweet, others are angry and bitter. "That's a fancy lookin ring ya got there, little bro." Dore takes notice of the ring on my right hand. I haven't given much consideration to what I'd say about that. Even with all the time I took getting here I still couldn't think of something. No real way to say that I have an alien piece of technology stuck to my finger, is there?

"I, Uhhh won it in a cereal box raffle." Nice save me. Thinking on the fly like that. Maybe I'm a lot smarter than I thought?

My family shares a laugh over my excuse for how I got this thing. "You've always been rather childish, little brother. I suppose this might have been why you thought it was a wise decision to run away from home."

Ouch Argente, did you really have to word it like that? Not pulling any punches, are you? I suppose I should've expected something like this. She's never been the subtlest of us.

Dinner is finally served as our parents join us. The evening is as loud as I remember. Dore usually has a story to tell us about something she saw while in town, Argente attempts to quiet her down, saying that the dinner table is a place for etiquette. It usually ends with the usual insults of having a stick in an uncomfortable place.

Mom seems happy as she always does. It's been awhile since all of us have been together like this. Kinda sucks that the only reason is because of some idiot decided to go and get himself killed. Oh, wait. That's me.

* * *

The evening continues for another hour before everyone's finished up. The twins are beginning to fall asleep at their chairs. Violette helps them to bed before heading off to the land of dreams herself.

All that's left in awake are My parent's, older sisters, Verte, and myself. Mom sends Verte off to bed, reminding her that she has school tomorrow. The green haired tomboy tries to argue, but dad steps in to stop the argument. She gives one last look at me before huffing off to bed.

And then there were fewer. It was finally the time to have that scolding. No words are said. We each take our place in the living room. I take my place in the recliner and wait for someone to speak up.

My father is of course the to lead the interrogation. "So, where do you wanna start? Maybe on why you though it was a good idea to leave without saying anything? Or how about taking the family sword? How about when we got the call that you had been killed on a mission?"

Opening and closing my had helps to keep me from letting my anger out. It's childish to be angry from getting a scolding, but I'm still young. And very brash if my past decisions are any indication.

"Please son, just tell us why. Why did you leave?" My mother pleads for me to explain my actions. I can see it's hurting her to not know why I left. Or maybe she does know, and she just wants to hear it from me.

I take a deep breath before I begin to explain myself. "I left because no one would allow me to follow my dream. You all kept me from chasing what I wanted to become. The excuses of being too weak, or not having enough talent could only work for so long. If I couldn't find my path here then I would leave to chase after it somewhere else."

"So, you decided to act like a child. You couldn't talk to us and left on your own? Do you know how much that selfish act affected this family?" The patriarch of the Arc family's voice begins to raise with each question.

"I tried talking to you. I tried for years to get through to you that I wanted to be a Huntsman, but no matter what I said you denied me every time."

"That's because you didn't have the proper training. I couldn't send you to an Academy without it. They wouldn't have let you in. Though it seems Oz used his usual closed-door actions to get you in."

"I would have had the training if you let me. You said I wasn't allowed to train because I didn't have the talent for it, but that doesn't make sense! Even if I didn't have talent I could make up for it with hard work! You didn't want to take the time to train me because you thought it would just be a waste of time!"

"What did you expect me to do?! Did you want me to send you out there with only grit and will?! Are you really that stupid?! Just how badly do you wanna die, Enzo?!" He seems stunned by what he just said. I have no idea why he called me by my middle name, he's never done that before.

The silence from before returns. Except this time, it was an awkward kind that made everyone feel uneasy. Mom stands up and takes my dad's hand in hers. "Honey, I think it's time you told him."

That might be one of the foreboding things I've heard in a while. And that's saying something. Dad sits back down, putting his head in his hands. He gives mom a nod in confirmation to continue with whatever she was talking about.

"Jaune, do you know why your middle name is Enzo?"

"No, I thought it was just a name you picked out of a baby book. Why, where does it come from?"

"You get the name Enzo from your uncle, Enzo Arc. Your father's younger brother."

"I have an uncle? How come I've never met him?"

I've never seen him at a family reunion, or even heard of him for that matter. Now that I think about it, grandpa Arc would sometimes call me Enzo when he was asking for me. Grandma would correct him with a look of sadness. I just thought it was because he was starting to lose his memory.

"The reason why you've never met him….. was because he passed away during a mission while he was at Beacon Academy."

He died? …. I see. That makes sense I suppose. "What does that have to do with me though?"

My dad finally picks himself up from his pitiful state. "When you were born I had this odd feeling of nostalgia. It reminded me of when I was younger, and I saw my little brother for the first time. He was a small thing. The trademark blonde hair and blue eyes of the Arc family. He looked so fragile."

A few moments of silence pass as he tries to catch his breath. "You reminded me so much of him that I decided to name your middle name after him. I thought of it as a good way to remember him. I didn't realize until later that you didn't just look like him, you were pretty much the spitting image of him in both looks and personality. The resemblance felt like too much of a coincidence."

"Watching you grow up felt so like watching him through the years that I couldn't let things end the same. Your uncle didn't have any talent, just like you. But you two also shared that odd drive to want to push yourselves, even though you had no hope of ever becoming a Huntsman. He did countless hours of training on his own to be good enough to attend Beacon. In the end, he made it through initiation by the skin of his teeth."

"The years went by, and he continued to improve. He made it a lot farther than anyone believed was even possible for someone like him. Then came the mission he took with his team during his third year." Tears can be seen at the corner of his eyes before he wipes them away.

"It was a search and kill mission to hunt down an odd Grimm that had been seen recently. Any info they had said that it shouldn't be that much of a problem. While on the mission they encountered the Grimm. After killing the beast, it turns out that the thing belonged to a nest. The other Grimm swarmed when their guard was down. A fall back was called from the leader. In ten minutes, a Bullhead arrived to extract them from the area."

"They didn't have the ability to get out of there with how bad the swarm was. My brother decided to stay behind and hold them off, so the others could get away. They didn't have time to argue. The leader ordered the others to leave. After getting into the airship the swarm was close behind them, they left immediately. Several Huntsman were called in after what remained of the team returned. Nothing was left behind of Enzo."

"When I heard from Ozpin how you were reported dead during a similar mission, I believed that some God out there hated our family. I never wanted you to be a Huntsman because of that exact thing. You two were so similar that I knew something similar would happen. I couldn't bear to see the same events playout again in this family."

So that's it. That's the reason why he never trained me. He saw his younger brother in me and he didn't want to lose him again. That's… that's… "Bullshit."

The curse words cause everyone to look at me with shocked expressions. I was never one to curse as a child. Even after I got this ring I haven't cursed to much after the first couple of days, it never made me feel very comfortable. This time however it had the weight I needed for my words.

"So, what if I remind you of your little brother. That doesn't change the fact that you still thought it was a good idea to deny me of what I wanted to be. I get that you didn't want to see the same thing happen, but you forget one thing. I am not your little brother. We may look the same, we may act the same, we may even have the same ambition in life. That doesn't mean a thing to me. I'm not Enzo. I'm me."

Everyone turns to my dad to see how he'll react to my declaration. He looks like he's trying to come up with a response, but all that comes out of his mouth is air. He closes his jaw and grits his teeth for a bit. I think he's about to punch.

While I was preparing for the attack, a sigh escapes his lips. "… You're right. I have been looking at you just like him, haven't I? I'm sorry." The father accepts his mistake. Mom grabs his hand again in forces him to look her in the eyes.

"It's alright honey. You wanted to protect our son. It may not have been the best idea, but you cared in your own way."

The married couple has a moment to themselves before I speak up. "Even if you admit your mistake, it doesn't mean I forgive you. I had to live most of my life being told that I should give up by you. An apology won't fix that."

"And I don't expect you to."

Coming to our own agreement brings the conversation to a close. "Well, now that that's out of the way we can go back to the way things were."

"… No, we can't."

"What do you mean? Do you wanna head back to Beacon? That I think about it you still haven't told us how you got back home, or even survived the Grimm encounter."

This is what I've been dreading. Telling them the truth about where I've been these past few days is gonna be hard. "When the Grimm horde began to come down on me, I was feeling a mixture of emotions. But the biggest one I felt was **Rage**. When I saw the Bullhead leaving me behind even though I could've made it before the horde got close enough, I got so angry. I thought that they left me. After my transcripts were found out my teammates and friends abandoned me. Now they were doing it in a more physical sense."

"The anger began to control me as I fought against the first few Grimm that began the attack. I was tearing through them one by one. After the first couple I lost my sword and shield. In my berserk state I used my fists to attack them. While I was pounding on an Ursa a red light shined down on me and I heard a voice."

I pull up my hand to show them the ring on my finger. "That's when this ring came floating down. I slipped onto my finger and then everything began to feel hot." I continue to recount the events of my fight with the Grimm. They seemed shocked to say the least when I told them that I beat back most of the horde my myself.

Apparently they didn't buy my story. Until I showed them the constructs I created and the napalm blood from my mouth. Gotta remember to buy mom a new coffee table after this. I continue to tell them the events that followed. From leaving the planet, to arriving on Ysmault, taking on the space pirates, fighting Relic, and liberating the planet of Kormorax from the tyranny of an evil dictator.

It takes the a few minutes to let the whole story sink in. I probably wouldn't believe it if someone told me this kinda junk either. Their reactions are all mixed. Marron pats my head, telling me that she's so proud of what I've done. "You're saying that life on other planets actually exists?" Argente is the first to question m story.

"Ya. I know it sounds hard to believe, considering that we haven't even traveled to the moon yet. But it's true. Aliens do exist."

"I see. That is rather informative." That's another thing about her. She's always could accept things if there's proper information to back it up. Suppose it makes it easier on me.

"Wow. My little brother's a space cop. That is so badass."

The curse word is received with a quick slap to the back of her head as mom disciplines Dore. "Young lady, I will not allow you to use such foul language in this household."

"That brings me to the last part. I'm sorta on temporary leave right now. I gotta get back in the next few days."

"You're leaving again already? We just got you back. Can't you stay a little bit longer? I wanna hold my little brother again after so long." Marron pulls me into a hug, rubbing my head and cooing to me.

"I can't, there's a whole sector of space that we have a responsibility over now. With the loose of Ratchet, we're down to six of us. It's gonna take some time to get word to spread that we're the law now so we need everyone on deck. I promise to stop by after things have settled down some."

"Not much we can do about that I suppose. Before you leave can you talk to Ozpin first? I know you probably wanna keep this all under wraps, but I feel that he should know about this. Especially if you return. It would be strange for a dead man to be walking around the kingdoms without an explanation." Dad's suggestion doesn't sound too bad.

He got it right that I wanted to keep this quiet. If the world knew about aliens it would freak them out. It wouldn't do to have the panic attract the Grimm. "Guess you're right. I'll leave it up to you to call him. I've had a long day and need the rest."

"I suppose your right. We'll call it a night for now."

And so, another long day ends.

* * *

 **Beacon Academy**

It's another cold night here in Vale. The Vytal Festival preparations are under way. After a long day of discussing with The Council and going over documents I finally head off for the night. As I stand up from my desk my scroll begins to ring.

I notice that it's Michael calling. It's far too late into the night for him and his family to be arriving in Vale. I pick up the line and address my longtime friend.

"Hello Michael. I must say it's a surprise to receive a call from you this late into the night. What's the occasion?"

The patriarch of the Arc family looks to be in better shape than I would expect, considering the recent events. "I have something you should probably hear Oz. It's about my son."

"Jaune? Did something happen?"

"You could say that. He turned up at our front door. He's alive."

For once in a long time I'm stunned at the recent news. "How? I saw the site of the attack myself. With your son's level of combat, I doubt he could take them on by himself."

The father rubs his temple as he lets out a tired sigh. "I suggest you sit down, Oz. This is gonna be a long story."


	10. Making an Example

**What is up everyone! Quick news. I'm going to be putting this story on hold for maybe a few weeks, a month at most. I just need to let the engine cool a bit before I burn it out completely. There will be a new story to take its place though. I don't want to spoil it, but I'll leave a hint. "All hail the Breast Dragon Emperor!" … That maybe too much of a hint.**

 **Now for the pairing. A lot way to have a harem and a lot say to keep it a single pairing. I want anyone who wants to have a say to send me a PM explaining why you want that pairing and why it would work. Don't just say don't do the other one because it doesn't work. I need a reason to do your pairing so explain why.**

 **Alright now onto the story.**

 **Light of Remnant**

 **Ch. 10 Making an Example**

Light shined through the blinds of my bedroom window right into my eyes. Getting outta bed is harder than I thought it was gonna be. Walking out into the hallway I make my way to the bathroom to wash my face. As I open the door I notice that Violette is inside with Blanche and Noire. She's helping them brush their teeth and get dresses.

She notices that I'm awake and turns to me. "Good morning big brother. Did you sleep well?"

I head over to an open sink to splash some water on my face. "Ya, I did. Been a while since I slept in that bed. I was surprised how fast I went to sleep."

"Well it's good to have you back. Now get ready. Mom almost has breakfast ready."

"I'm going, I'm going." Violette's always been way too responsible for someone her age. Helping the twins finish up she leads them out the door and down the stairs to the kitchen.

Pulling the toothpaste out I realize that I don't have my toothbrush here. It's probably still back at Beacon. That is if my former team didn't decide to throw it away. They probably did to get rid of anything that reminds them of me.

I create a toothbrush and us it to brush my teeth. Even though the constructs are hard-light the bristles are surprisingly soft. Finishing up I head off to join the rest down stairs. I walk past Verte's door and consider waking her up before deciding against it. Don't need a foot to the face first thing in the morning.

Most of the family is awake already, except for Verte and Dore. Mom's busy in the kitchen making breakfast while dad's in the living room watching news reports. With how big the family is mom sometimes needs help getting everything ready, though she won't say it herself. The only ones in our family that can cook are mom, Violette, and myself. Dad mostly uses the grill for anything and the others can barely make a sandwich.

With nothing else to do I decide to help mom in the kitchen. It looks like she's going all out with it. Probably because I'm not dead. "Need some help, mom?"

She's busy slicing potatoes into hash browns while the skittle heats up. "You don't need to help sweetie. I've got everything under control here. Why don't you go sit down and watch the news with your father?"

Considering how hard headed she can be during situations like this I go along with her suggestion. Joining dad in the living room I lay down on the two-seater couch and prop my feet on the armrest.

"Anything interesting going on?"

"Nothing much." He takes a sip of water from the table next to him. "Just some news of celebrity divorces and marriages, Grimm movements around the kingdoms, and a special report on Beacon about a foolish student that got himself killed. Apparently, Oz is under fire from the media and the Council because of it."

I face palm at the news. It looks like I gotta fix a few things before I go. It wouldn't be right for me to leave Ozpin to the wolves when I could help. "Guess I'll have to make an announcement when I return to Vale. You haven't let Violette or the twins see this, right? The paparazzi will probably come after you guys before long if something isn't done."

"Don't worry about them. We made sure to they didn't hear anything about this. And you're right. The media never has been the kind of group that cares much for personal space. They won't stop just because we ask them too." If things escalate then they'll be harassed day and night. Enough trouble has been caused by me to my family. They don't need anymore.

"Everyone, breakfast is ready!" The announcement rouses everyone to the dining room to eat. Dore and Verte finally wake up and join the rest of us before long. The meal plays out like a repeat of last nights.

After everyone finishes eating, Violette and myself take the dishes and clean up the leftovers. The morning continues in quiet with everyone doing their own thing. As seven rolls around the younger kids prepare to head off to school.

I'm able to see them off before I prepare to leave. "You don't have to leave so soon you know. You can stay a bit longer."

I shake my head at my mom's request. "I can't. Things need to be settled with Ozpin before they get worse. The faster I announce my return, the easier it'll be to quiet down the news of my supposed death." As I think about what I'll do when I get back to Beacon, certain people begin to come to mind. Along with some rather unpleasant thoughts. "Plus, I have some unfinished business to take care of."

The concerned look from the others tell me that they have some idea of what I mean. "Jaune, you can't let what happened cloud your vision. What they didn't wasn't right, but that doesn't mean that you'll be just for getting revenge."

Argente tries to talk me down from following through on my destructive impulses. She's right to, I know she is. But I can't let this go no matter how hard I try. Every time I think about it my blood begins to boil. It's an unwelcomed feeling, but it feels right to.

"I'll keep that in mind." My reassurance does little for them. "Don't worry. I'll keep myself under control. As long as no one starts anything then I should remain calm." I turn to my dad to have him inform Ozpin that I'll be there soon.

With nothing left to be said, I take to the skies. Stopping after ascending several feet I give one last wave goodbye and leave my family home behind once again. Traveling through the clouds is a rather soothing experience. When I first flew I thought my motion sickness would kick in. Whether it's the ring doing it, or I just got over it I don't know.

Despite being so high up the air feels the same. It hasn't thinned out or gotten any colder. My trip to Beacon continues at a leisurely pace. The ring only allows a certain speed while inside an atmosphere to not cause any disturbance to my surroundings.

Beacon academy comes into after several minutes pass. The Headmaster's tower stands at the center of it all. Flying over the deserted courtyard tells me that everyone must be at class during this time. Probably a good thing. Don't need anyone seeing me before I get the chance to talk with the Headmaster.

I land in front of the Tower of Beacon and walk inside. Entering the structure, I see a figure waiting near the elevator. A very familiar woman stands with a digital board in hand. She seems to notice my presence as she looks up at me.

"You're early Mr. Arc. Or perhaps you're late. I suppose it depends on perspective. The Headmaster is waiting for you inside." Ms. Goodwitch puts her board to the side, beckoning me to enter the waiting elevator.

"It's good to see you again Professor Goodwitch. I wish it was under better circumstances though." We enter the elevator and begin our ascent towards the Headmaster's office.

"Yes, I suppose this a rather odd reunion, isn't it? Still, it's not so bad. One of my students returned from the dead. I believe many would count that as a good thing."

I let out a chuckle from her **Hopeful** outlook on this situation. "I assume Ozpin informed you on where I've been and what I've been doing?"

"He told me as much as he knew. I must say it's a rather hard story to believe. A story I still don't fully believe mind you. Until you can show hard evidence I will have to hold out on the belief that aliens exist." Suppose I can't blame her. Her skepticism is to be expected. Even now the past few days don't quite feel real.

After a short ride to the top the elevator signals that we've arrived. The doors open to the office of the Headmaster. It wasn't too long ago that we were in a similar situation. Ozpin waits patiently behind his desk for us to enter. Walking over to the chair sitting in front I sit down.

"I must say it's good to see you again, Mr. Arc. I've had many students return to me over the years, but never from the dead. It was a rather surreal experience to hear from your father that you returned to the family home in one piece. Though it seems that the list of bizarre news doesn't stop there, does it?"

"Hahaha. Guess you're right. Before I begin explaining, how much did my dad tell you?"

The man takes a sip from his cup before answering. "He informed me that you seemed to have obtained a ring the allows you to channel your emotions through it and use it as a weapon. And that said ring is alien in origin, as in not of this world. That, along with a quick summary of your exploits while away. Is all that I know of so far."

It's good to know that he's up to speed on most of it. Retelling the same story over and over again would get rather tiring. "Well, if that's what you know then there's not much else to say on my end. I'm sure you have questions so I'll answer them to the best of my abilities."

He accepts my offer and begins what I'm sure is a very long list of questions. "How many of these Lantern Corps are there? What do they do? How many people belong to each of them? What are their capabilities?"

The questions seem pretty standard. Nothing to outrageous. Though it does concern me somewhat that he wants to know what we're capable of. If it was anyone else then I'd be more hesitant to answer something like that, but Ozpin seems like he would keep that to himself so I shouldn't be too concerned.

"I suppose I'll start with the first question. There seems to be seven Lantern Corps in total. They cover the color spectrum going from red, to orange, to yellow, green, blue, indigo, and finally violet. Each corps has different tasks. The Green Lantern's act as a police force for the entire universe with each sector being patrolled by a different Lantern. I don't know much else about the other corps except for the Red's so I can't say much."

"As for their numbers, the Greens have two Lanterns per a sector, which number 3600 in total, bringing their forces to about 7200 give or take a few. The capabilities of each Lantern also differ depending on mastery of their ring, but from what I've seen each Lantern can probably take on the full military might of a kingdom and the Huntsman within said kingdoms alone with only minimal trouble depending on the circumstances."

The revelation at the power that this ring wields seems unsettling to the two. "That is some rather… difficult information to accept. I'm afraid that I won't be able to simply accept those words without any proof to back it up."

"Can't do much about that unless you're willing to have a spar with me." The childish part of me wants to show off, but if I do too much I would gain attention.

"Actually, I believe there may be an alternative to that."

* * *

Shortly after we finished our discussion we made our way to the Auditorium, which doubles as the combat class. No one has had combat classes yet. They'd probably be in their study classes for another few hours. Walking down these halls gives me an odd sense of foreboding. This was the place where I was harassed by several students. Most were first years except, though there were a few upper year students.

"So, what exactly am I going to be doing? Am I going to spar with Goodwitch? Or do you want the two of us to go at it, Ozpin?" I'm not sure I could hold back enough against them and not seriously hurt either of them.

All the fights I've been in so far have been in life or death, and most of those were against Grimm and robots. The pirates were the only living beings I've fought against and I'm pretty sure a few of them walked away with broken limbs. Or couldn't with a broken leg. Putting either of them in a cast for a few weeks wouldn't be a good show of their faith in me.

The Headmaster takes a sip from his cup of coffee as he fiddles with his Scroll. "With the uncertainty of your abilities it would be wise to pit you against an opponent with who's safety we wouldn't have to concern ourselves with. In that regard, I believe we have the perfect opponent in mind."

Entering the doors at the end of the hallway we make our way into the Auditorium. Standing in the middle of the ring are around a dozen or so combat training bots. These bots are used for students to train against opponents that they can go all out against with no need to be concerned about their health and try out more damaging attacks.

"I would like for you to use these training androids to demonstrate for use the capabilities of your ring. We'll keep them on low level for now for safety reasons."

They don't expect me to be able to live up to my hype. Looks like I will be able to show off a little after all. "That's not a problem. Give it a minute and I'm sure you'll change your mind."

I step into the ring and prepare for them to set up the session. Ozpin signals to Glynda for her to start up the program. Up on the digital board my Aura meter shows up. The meter seems normal with no interference form the ring whatsoever. The only oddity is the flux as the meter reaches 100%. It surpasses 100 for a moment before returning to normal.

The combat teacher raises her hand before letting it down. "Begin!" The first bot walks towards me. It also happens to be the only one. It may be low level so I assume they want to get a feel before turning up the heat. The lone bot begins to charge at me with its fist reeled back.

I then swiftly crush it with a spiked ball construct.

The quick defeat of the practice bot doesn't deter the professors from sending in the others. The level on the board raises from 1 to 4. Looks like they're beginning to take this more seriously.

I dispatch the first three with giant spiked bat before changing my attention to the remaining eight. Two jump in the air while another pair attempt to go at me from below. The pair from below are on me first. Firing a beam into the one on the right I grab the second by the face and hurl it into the remaining bots attempting to flank me on my right.

As the two from above descend on me I spin and create a giant sword. It's not the comedic kind of large, but one I can handle with my own hands. The whole sword is over six feet tall and the handle is a foot of that. The thickness of the blade allows me to easily cut through the two airborne bots. **(1)**

Five remain counting the one I threw earlier. They break up into pairs and try to flank me on both sides while one charges at me from the front. As the pairs get around the side of me I throw two giant boxing gloves in either direction, causing them to fall apart from the force of the attack.

The last of the bots continues in its lone attempt to take me on. For this one I won't use a construct. The purpose of this spar was to demonstrate my abilities. That means all my abilities. As the android enters its melee range it launches a right hook. I stop the attack by grabbing its wrist. With its attack halted it tries again with its remaining left before the same thing happens.

With nothing else to do the bot flails to break free from my grip. Now that it has no guard my next attack will show its full capabilities. Heat begins to build up in my throat before I spew the bot in napalm.

The metal quickly begins to melt away from the sheer heat of the liquid fire. I watch as the bot deteriorates in my hands until all that's left is the hands I was holding onto. No enemies remain in the ring as I turn to the onlookers. Ms. Goodwitch looks shocked at my display of overpowering force on the helpless training bots. Or it might be the corrosive liquid I used on the last one. Either way my point got across.

"That all you got? I thought these were supposed to be used for training the next generation of Huntsman and Huntresses. That wasn't even a warm-up for me." It may be cocky of me, but I just had a great win.

The ever-calm Ozpin looks over his Scroll. Sounds of gears turning can be heard below the ring before several large trap doors open. Several squads of bots enter to take the place of the recently defeated. These ones are different from those before. Each hold a weapon of some kind, whether it be a sword, axe, mace or a gun. The difficulty on the board raises from 4 to 8.

Glynda looks to Ozpin with concern. They have a short discussion before the female professor admits defeat and prepares to resume the match. There's no warning this time as five of the groups begin their assault.

With the groups being as large as they are I no longer need to worry about using smaller attacks to demonstrate. I throw a semi-truck at the first group in the center and follow up with a rain of arrows down on the group on the left. Their numbers dwindle further and further as the hail of arrows continue. The second half on the side grown closer, forcing me to cancel my attack. Drawing them into close combat forces me to use smaller constructs again to insure I hit.

I'm able to strike my fist straight through the head of one of them before following up with a large blast to his allies directly behind him. Of the bots that attacked me only ten remain with this half. I move onto creating multiple pairs of arms to attack several of the androids while I deal with two on my own.

I hear a voice echo in my head while I use the arms to unleash an unending barrage of punches. It's hard to make out but it sounds like someone's repeating the word 'Muda' in my head. No idea what it means but I'll roll with it. I feel compelled to finish up the beat down by dropping a steamroller on them for some reason.

'WRRRRYYYYYY'

… What was that? I'm just gonna ignore it.

The groups that stayed out of the fight move into join the fray along with the remaining stragglers from the arrow assault. As the fight continues my battle lust begins to grow. No longer do I use constructs to fight these things. Now all I use are punches, kicks, and even the odd bite here and there.

The number of opponents doesn't seem to be dwindling no matter how many I destroy. It's then that I realize that it's because more and more of them appear from the ground. No matter how many come at me they never get the chance to land a blow before I swat them away.

This carries on for a few more minutes. Slowly the number of enemies shrink. It seems the reserves of bots is coming to an end. I finish up the last of the androids, leaving scrap littering the entire floor of the ring. Those that weren't melted down at least.

I wipe of shards of metal off my suit and walk over to the waiting professors. "Was that a good enough audition or do I need to perform an encore?"

This may be the first time I've seen Ozpin surprised in person. He's keeping it cool for the most part, but the cracks can be seen. "No, I don't believe that will be necessary. Mostly because that was the last combat androids we had. Now we'll need to order some new ones. Which brings us a small complication."

"Oh, what's that. Having an existential crisis over the mind-blowing revel that aliens exist? Don't worry, I'll give you a minute?"

"Not that. We planned to have the students use the combat androids to demonstrate how far they've come in the past month. It's a way for them to see how much stronger they are against enemies they don't need to hold back on, like the Grimm. Now I'm afraid we will have to reschedule."

I shrug my shoulders nonchalantly. "To bad, wish I could help, but nothing you can do about it."

"If you're offering then I believe I have an idea." Oh no. That smug grin. That condescending look that lets you know that he has something in mind that'll make you feel like an idiot. "While we don't have any androids for them to spar against, I'm sure if they went against an opponent that would have no trouble taking their attacks then it wouldn't be too different."

Stunned silence is my only response to the trap I've fallen into. "… You planned this."

"Whatever do you mean?"

"You planned this, I know you did."

The man somehow looks shocked and smug with one expression. "Mr. Arc, I am hurt that you would think me of something like this."

Glynda returns from working with her Scroll to interrupt our conversation. "Sir, I've notified the students in the change in schedule. I've received some messages from the other professors, but I'm sure they will understand once you explain it to them."

All the Headmaster can do is sip his cup and look away.

My luck sucks.


	11. An Appetizer

**AN: Hey everyone. Sorry for the delay. I've been busy with stuff but I'm back now. You should already know but there's a poll to say when I'll update, so if you haven't voted do so. Nothing much more to say. Onto the story.**

 **(1): The helmet Guts wears when he goes full berserk in his armor. Jaune now has the full set.**

 **Light of Remnant**

 **Ch. 11 The Appetizer**

"You planned this. I don't know how, but you planned this." After I agreed to help Ozpin with his recent shortage of training androids I immediately began to regret it.

The smug Headmaster takes another sip from his infinite cup. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Mr. Arc. How could I have planned for you to be strong enough to defeat all 200 of our training androids? I believe you give me too much credit."

That's a flat out lie. He couldn't have planned for me to beat all of them, but he had to know I would defeat most of them. That would still leave them short on bots for the students to use. "I could always leave. Not like you could stop me." I could fly right out the roof if I wanted. Maybe burn a mark on the lawn while I'm at it.

"That you could. And I'm sure no one in this school could stop you. But then there comes the matter of the cost for the destroyed androids. Without you here to make up for the damages, the matter of payment would fall to your parents as you're still a minor."

… It's starting to get really hard to hold back on my desire to curse. Not only is he forcing me to help him out, now he's holding my family's savings hostage. I'm gonna need to leave a bit of napalm spit in his cup if this keeps up.

The fight might not have been very tiring, but I feel exhausted now. The combat class for each year will be combined so as to make this easier. Classes will be shuffled to make up for this and after we're done here it'll be a free day. I'm sure many are happy about that. Just wait until they step into the ring. I'm sure they'll regret it.

The spars will definitely become a spectacle. Most won't take it too well considering my acceptance into this school in the first place, but that's not my problem. If they chose to look down on me then it'll make the fights go by easier.

"The students will be gathering here in an hour. For now you can do as you please." Ms. Goodwitch informs me on the schedule and how long I had. Since no one's about the halls I can stop by the cafeteria and grab some lunch. Leaving the auditorium I change my appearance to something more low-key. It wouldn't do to walk around in a full set of armor while eating.

I take the back route to the cafeteria to avoid being seen by the odd student or teacher as I'm not sure if they've been informed fully about the reason for the change. Arriving at the cafeteria I enter the large room to see that it's mostly empty except for the staff on shift. Heading up to food line I grab some food that they've set up early for any students that don't have class right now.

After grabbing my meal I pay with a card Ozpin gave me to buy some lunch. I take a seat at a table by the window and dig in. As I eat my mind wanders to the upcoming spars. I'm not sure what they have in mind for how the spars will be set up, but they'll probably have me fight a few teams in each year.

The only students from the first year that come to mind are ones that I'd rather not see again, but it seems that I won't be that lucky. If they make me fight team CRDL they'll probably get off with some broken bones, maybe a scar here or there. Teams NPR and RWBY on the other hand won't get off so lucky. They didn't do anything while I was being harassed by the other students, and therein lies the problem. They left me to be tormented by everyone while they turned a blind eye. In the end they even left me to die at the hands of the Grimm horde after I stayed behind for them.

I hate them all. I really do, but that doesn't mean I want to kill them. It's best to leave them alone. Now though, it doesn't seem that I'll get that lucky.

After finishing my meal I still have half an hour until the class starts. Deciding it would be best to head back rather than risk being seen I walk to a locker room they set aside for visiting students.

The time passes and the sound of students entering the neighboring locker room can be heard. Ozpin said to wait until he called me up to the stage. Something about it being more dramatic.

"So, what do ya think the professors are doing changing the classes like this?"

A familiar voice catches my ear. It's female and sounds rather confident.

"I don't know Yang. Maybe they thought it would be better to have everyone fight at the same time rather than waste some training androids for each class?"

The next voice is smoother than the last. It's quite like the dead of night.

"I'm sure it's important. They wouldn't hamper our studies for no reason."

"Weiss is right. Though any reason to have a free day is good enough for me."

These two are easy to figure out. The first was already identified and the other could only be one person. The group continues to talk to one another but I tune it out. If I don't focus on something else my **Rage** will take over and I'll lose control.

"What do you think's going on Pyrrha?"

As hard as I'm trying not to listen, that name cuts through the air like one of Relic's blasts.

"It's hard to say. Either way I'm sure that the training simulations will still be held so there's no need for concern."

Her cheerful voice has the opposite effect you would expect on me. The tournament champion of Mistral might have seemed nice when we first met, but she turned her back on me the moment I became a burden. All that kindness and warm demeanor turned to cold isolation when I confided in her.

"As long as I getta smash something than I'm good to go! What about you Ren?!"

"Whether we face the training bots or not we get a free day after this. Maybe I'll be able to get a nap in when I'm done."

The two childhood friends Nora and Ren. They were a part of my team no more than five days ago. Now they just seem like strangers.

They continue to talk to one another. Happy in their own little worlds. As if nothing happened. As if I never existed. It's only been **5 DAYS!** And they're already chose to forget about me. Fine then, not like I came here to talk to them again. At least now I'll have plenty of energy for the spars.

It's best to walk away for now. Unless I wanna burst through the wall and commit murder that is.

* * *

 **In the other locker room**

My team and the remains of JNPR continue to talk about that spars and what they have in mind. Despite how we all sound we're not in the best shape. Blake has a bag or two under her eyes. Weiss has had a cold expression for the past few days that just won't leave. Yang's hair looks a bit disheveled even. I'm no better than them I suppose.

Every morning's been so difficult it's hard to even get out of bed. Even with all that team JNPR is worse off than we are. Usually Nora's bursting with energy all day, but now she only has this act she puts on. Most can't tell the difference but if you look close you can see she's acting like a puppet on strings. Ren doesn't show it but I know he's hurting too.

The one who has it worst has to be Pyrrha. Her teammates have each other, we have our own partners, but she has no one. We try and talk with her, but she waves us off and goes somewhere else. I know she's had it the hardest with the loss of her partner.

Something that sounds like thrashing and heavy objects being thrown can be heard from the locker room next door.

"What do ya think's going on in there?" Yang puts her ear up to the wall to see if she can make out what's going on. Nora joins her on the wall and the two continue to listen in. While they listen, something crashes against the wall. Small cracks can be seen on the wall where the object probably came from.

"Is someone having a fight in there? Maybe we should call the professor?" Weiss prepares to head off to get Ms. Goodwitch. The loudspeaker cuts her off before she can make the call.

" _Would all students please make your way to the training room. I repeat, will all students please make your way to the training room. We will begin the practice sessions soon."_ The voice coming from the loudspeaker sounds like Ms. Goodwitch's. The other students in the locker room gather their gear and head off to the training room.

Our two teams soon follow suit behind the rest. We make our way to the training room and take seats in the bleachers surrounding the ring. Other students talk amongst themselves. From what little I can make out they seem to be just as confused by the change in schedule as we are.

Before long Ms. Goodwitch makes her way to center of the ring. "Good afternoon class. Today we will be holding a practice match to test your progress so far. Ordinarily we use training androids to allow you the full use of your capabilities without the danger of harming your fellow students. Unfortunately, an incident earlier today made all of our androids indisposed during a practice run."

The chatter amongst the students picks up again. Without the training bots we can't hold the practice sessions. I deflate at the news. This really sucks. Now I can't show off Crescent Rose to everyone. My baby won't get her chance to shine.

"The good news is that the one who caused the incident has agreed to assist us with our problem. Instead of fighting training androids you'll be sparing against him." The somewhat quite murmurs from before turn into full out yelling. If we're gonna be fighting against an actual person they've gotta be a Huntsman! This is sooooo much better than some simple training bots.

A student farther down from us raises their hand. The professor nods for the student to stand up and speak. "Does that mean only some of us are gonna get the chance to practice? If it's an actual person, they can't fight everyone."

The crowd starts to erupt in to an uproar. Students are volunteering themselves for the few slots that'll be open. Some are even making their way down to the practice field to form a line. Our group is no exception. Yang and Nora yell at the professor for the opportunity to get a fight in while the rest remain quiet.

Ms. Goodwitch finally snaps at the chaos that her class has become. "Everyone be silent! I will not have my class descend into madness of something as childish as a chance to show off!" Everyone goes deathly silent as the professor yells over them. Those that were heading towards the arena return to their seats and try to make themselves as small as possible. "Now then, I assure you all that you'll get the chance to demonstrate your abilities today if you desire to. Your sparring partner has enough energy to take on every one of you if necessary."

"In a few minutes the first session will begin. The system will decide at random who goes first while I get the assistant. Later, we'll allow whole teams to take them on, but we'll start out with single matches for now." She types something into the digital clipboard she's holding before looking back to the class. "I'll return in a minute with our assistant. Whoever the system chooses should make their way to the arena and prepare for their match."

Ms. Goodwitch heads towards the doors leading to the locker rooms. Once she's out of sight everyone looks at the monitor overhead to see who'll be lucky enough to get the first fight. I'm bouncing in my seat in anticipation. Sparring against an actual Huntsman isn't something new to me or Yang, but it's still exciting!

Soon the monitor wheel starts to slow down as the lucky first participant is chosen.

* * *

 **Back with Jaune**

The loud noises from earlier disappear now. It's quite as I continue to wait for my que to come out and reveal myself. To avoid any obvious surprise, I've created a construct helmet to hide my face. It looks like the head of a beast with a part where the mouth would be. The eyes of the helmet cause me to see everything with a red tint. **(1)**

Footsteps can be heard coming my way. They clack loudly against the surface of the floor and reverberates around the room. The doors open to reveal Ms. Goodwitch looking into the room. She notices me sitting near the lockers and beckons me over. I walk over to her and follow her towards the arena.

"Was the helmet design necessary? I understand you want to hide your identity, but it seems excessive."

"I wanted something simpler, but I must've subconsciously made it like this." Like my armor it probably responded to my image of a raging monster.

"I see." Her expression looks conflicted. She looks like she wants to say something. "I understand that you're experience here wasn't the best and that you hold now love for the students, but I ask that you please show some restraint. This is still a learning for them, not a life or death match."

Seems she's still worried about the effects the ring has on me. Not that I blame her after what I've seen and felt while I've had this thing. "You don't gotta worry. I don't like the people here, but that doesn't mean I'll kill them. I'm not some child that'd throw a tantrum for someone bullying them. I brought it on myself in the first place when I faked my transcripts."

"That may be true, but the Headmaster still accepted you knowing the truth about them. If anything, he's just as guilty as you are."

"Maybe, but I still owe him for what he's done for me. If I hadn't come to Beacon I wouldn't have gotten this ring in the first place." I also wouldn't have nearly died, but there's no need to bring the mood down any further.

Ms. Goodwitch shows a hint of a smile. "It's nice to see that you can have a positive outlook on this situation. I was concerned that you'd become more hardened after everything."

"The ring might make me angry 24/7, but it doesn't mean it gets rid of my old self. I'm still the lovable goofball I always was. Just with a greater chance of punching someone in the face if they make me angry."

"Let's hope that holds true."

Reaching the end of the hallway we enter the training room. As we come into view the crowd of students begin to chatter amongst themselves. Looking around I notice that the entire stadiums filled to the brim. Everyone from first years to fourth years can be seen. Along with a few familiar faces.

Finally, I notice the person waiting inside the ring. It's an older female student, possibly a third year. She's equipped with a broadsword with a split in the middle. From the appearance it probably splits in two.

I've never seen her before, but I wasn't really here that long to actually know anyone else. She has shoulder length black hair tied back in a ponytail. She's about a head or so shorter than me, but still has a confident expression. I can't tell if it's because she thinks she'll win, or because she's happy to show off in a spar.

I make my way to the ring while Ms. Goodwitch heads to the side to referee the match. "This will be the first match of the sessions. You're allowed to use any method of attack you wish in the fight. There's no need to worry about your opponent, he's sufficiently equipped to handle anything you can throw at him."

My opponent gets into a fighting stance, but the smug expression remains. "I hope she's right. Because there's a new move I've been dying to try out and I'm worried about hurting my team. Luckily, there's a Huntsman here that can handle it. Supposedly at least."

I suppose she might be right. Earlier I said that a lantern could probably take on an entire kingdom by themselves, but I don't know how true that holds up. I'm sure we can take down a few groups of Huntsmen, but I haven't tested that out on a single person yet. Looks like now's the time to test it out.

"Both participant please prepare. The match will be starting shortly." The instructor inputs some final commands to the system as a countdown begins on the screen.

 _3…_

I finally get into a basic hand to hand combat stance. I would go for a weapon construct, but it's probably better to see how strong my physical capabilities match up against someone with Aura.

 _2…_

The power from the ring starts to slowly flow through me. I can feel the enchantments from the rage fueled piece of jewelry do its job.

 _1…_

My unnamed opponent starts to bounce on her feet in anticipation for the fight to start. The grip on her sword shifts slightly as she prepares strike.

 _0!_

The match begins with my opponent launching at me in a burst of speed. She brings her sword over head to land a powerful blow.

"Get ready! This is my new move I made. Let's hope you can handle it!"

She's closer now. About 10 feet or so. Her muscles in her arms tighten as she prepares to show her move.

"Here it is! My super deadly move!"

She's 5 feet away now. I prepare to preform my counter attack or dodge, depending on her next move.

"Omega Heavenly Sri—" My fist makes contact with her face before she even has time to finish her move's name.

Her body goes sailing across the ring and crashes against a wall near the stands. Any student near the first row stands up and runs over to look down at the defeated form of their peer. Looking at the Aura monitor reveals that her Aura's gone into the red after the punch with the wall taking her last sliver.

Several of the students look at me, dumbfounded at how quickly I defeated a third year. Even I'm slightly caught off guard by how easily that went. I knew the ring boosted physical capabilities by an incredible amount, but I didn't expect this much of a gap between me and someone with Aura.

"I suppose that's as proper of an opener as we could get." A voice calls out over the silence from the crowd. Everyone turns to the source of the voice to see Headmaster Ozpin making his way down the stadium stairs.

"Ozpin? I thought you'd be in your office handling paperwork by now." The mask helps to alter my voice slightly. My usual voice is now rougher, as though someone put it through a shredder.

"As did I. You did finish the documents I left on your desk, right sir?" A murderous aura surrounds Ms. Goodwitch as she sends a glare at the Headmaster.

The man in question simply takes a sip of his coffee and nonchalantly jumps down to join his fellow teacher. "I'm afraid not. After hearing the practice matches were starting I saw that it was far more important for me to be here for my students and give them words of encouragement."

"You mean you wanted to skip work and slack off while watching the students fight, right?" A weary hand comes to the blond teacher's forehead as she gives it a rub. "Who am I kidding? Of course, you did. What else would I expect."

"Why don't we continue with the sessions? No need to hold up on my account." The Headmaster waves us on to continue. As if he wasn't the reason we stopped in the first place. Two medical staff have already arrived to take the unconscious girl to the infirmary.

With a tired sigh the female professor continues on with the spars. She sets up the randomizer to decide who goes next. The wheel on the monitor spins until slowing down and stopping on the next participant.

"Shadow Arcane!"

The professor announces the next fighter. A male student stands up from the bleachers and makes his way towards the ring. He seems tenser than the last fighter. Maybe my quick victory scared some of them a bit.

Mr. Arcane arrives in the ring and prepares a battle stance. His weapon of choose is a naginata with a spike on the bottom. "You won't have it as easy as you did with that third year. I'm a fourth year, plus I'm prepared for you now. No quick victories for you."

This one at least seems to understand the situation better. The last girl had confidence, but didn't see the situation as much of a threat. Whether she was arrogant or not is hard to say, but it doesn't change the fact that she got too cocky.

"All fighters be prepared!" Ms. Goodwitch announces the beginning of the countdown.

The timer counts down as silence fills the room again. The buzzer calls out for the match to start. Immediately Mr. Arcane switches his weapon into gun mode. The blade splits down the middle and folds back. A mechanism inside changes the naginata into a long-range rifle, which he uses to open fire on me.

His shots are dead on for the most part, but not are damaging enough to actually do anything. A quick look at the Aura monitor shows that I haven't taken any damage. I can't tell if that's because the rings protective barrier just so happens to cover over my Aura, or if they're combined somehow.

Either way this fight needs to get moving. I charge forward to close the distance between the two of us and prepare a left hook. He ducks under the attack and tries to change his weapon mid swing back to its bladed form.

He swings in a wide arc to gain power for the attack. Which gives me the chance to grab the pole of the naginata. I lift the weapon overhead, along with its owner, and slam them back down onto the ground. To finish the job, I give him a quick stomp to the chest.

A small crater form with spider web cracks spreading out about another 15 feet or so. Like before, his Aura's fades. Though he seems to have some left unlike the girl before. His training shows if he was able to focus his Aura to clock most of the damage.

"I believe that's the match." Ozpin takes another sip from his cup. He looks to Glynda to set up another match.

* * *

 **With Ruby**

The next several matches go more or less the same as the first two. Anyone who gets called who gets called to the ring tries their best to put up a fight, only to end up knocked out and sent to the infirmary. Not even the fourth years can do anything about it.

"So, what do you guys think about this?"

My sister asks from her seat to my right. When the matches started she seemed really excited to fight someone this strong. But after the 5th match when the girl got punched 30 feet in the air. Luckily whoever this guy is caught her before she landed.

"I can't say much. Whoever this Huntsman is knows how to fight. At least in hand to hand. He doesn't seem to possess any weapons that o can see, but you never know. He could have something hidden in his armor."

My partner gives her thoughts on the fighter. She almost sounds impressed.

"That's true. It's rare to see someone fight just hand to hand like this. Then again, he seems to have the power to back it up."

With Yang being a hand to hand fighter herself she's excited to see someone so strong that fights like her.

"What are your thoughts, Pyrrha? As a tournament champion you must have some insight."

The spartan thinks about Weiss' question while looking closer at the armored opponent fighting his latest challenger.

"I can't say much I'm afraid. He seems very powerful, but it's not like his martial arts is very strong. The power behind his punches is there, but the technique is lacking."

"Pyrrha's right. He's just using brute strength, no substance to any of his moves."

The resident silent martial artist gives his two lien on the fighter. Looking at it now he's right. While this guy has amazing power, his moves are simple.

"Oh, come one Renny! So what if he isn't a super ninja like you are? It doesn't change the fact that he's still kicking everyone's butts!"

Seems the fights are doing something for Nora at least. Her energy seems to be returning, if only a little.

The buzzer rings again, announcing the latest opponents defeat. This time the guy got buried head first in the ring. Speaking of which, the ring itself looks like it's seen better days. Bits and pieces of it scattered around the room.

"We'll have one more match before we change out the ring."

The combat instructor starts the selection process again. The wheel starts up again as other students squirm in their seat. Not that I blame them. Already two different people chose to pass on the match.

The wheel comes to a stop again. This time a first year.

Cardin Winchester.

Honestly, I don't feel sorry for this one. Ever since the incident in Forever Fall he's had this odd sense of confidence. Because he revealed… Jaune's fake transcripts his name became known around the school. Some of the first years congratulated him for bringing 'that faker to justice' as some of them said.

The bully let the little bit of attention he got go to his head. Now whenever he bullied someone he did it more openly. None of the other students did much to stop him because he had the support of those who praised him. It wasn't too much to cause any problems for the school as teachers quickly brought his acts under heel, but it didn't change the fact that he felt like top dog of the school.

With a cocky strut the large boy heads down to the ring, with his teammates close behind him. The professor did say that anyone chosen could bring their team with them if they wanted. Probably the best decision the jerks made sense coming to this school.

A few cheers come from the small group of supporters he has, along with several more boos. That doesn't seem to sit well with them. Looks like there'll be some trouble after this is done.

I look back into the ring to see how the mystery Huntsman feels about this. I'm shocked to find what I see. For some reason it looks like his entire bodies… glowing?

* * *

 **Back with Jaune**

"Are you sure this is the best idea, sir? Given Mr. Arc's history with Mr. Winchester—"

"There's no need to worry, Glynda. I'm sure Mr. Arc can keep his temper under control. Am I right?"

The professors and myself are talking in a hushed tone near the tunnel to the locker rooms. When my next opponent was announced Ms. Goodwitch called me over for a talk. After hearing the announcement, I can say that it's not having the best effect on me. It took a lot for me to not jump at the moron and beat him to a bloody pulp.

"I don't know sir. I can feel the rage building up in me. The ring's been saying my power level's been rising." The thing's almost at 50%. From what Guy said the ring will power up the angrier I get, so for it to be at half already unsettles me.

"That might be true, but I trust our judgment in this case." The Headmaster places his hand on my shoulder. He gives me a reaffirming squeeze while looking me in the eyes. "You've been able to hold in your rage the entire time you've been at this school. It shows that you still have control over yourself, that you're more than just that ring."

Maybe… maybe he's right. It's not like I have any good memories of this place, and I still haven't burnt this whole place to the ground. If I can hold out this long, then another hour or so shouldn't be that difficult. If it gets too bad, I'll tell them to call off the matches. I'm sure they'd understand.

"… Alright. I'll keep going. If things start to go too far, tell me. I don't like these guys, but I don't wanna kill them."

"Good." Ozpin takes his hand off my shoulder and makes his way over to the sidelines. "With that done we can continue. I have absolute faith in your ability to control your emotions, Mr. Arc."

Ms. Goodwitch stays for a moment before giving me a nod and joining the Headmaster. I look back to the team waiting in the ring. They seem confident for the most part. Cardin has a grin on his face from a false sense of strength. Dove and Russel stand on his sides, the same undeserved confidence oozing from them. The only one that has any degree of fear is Sky, who's standing behind his team shaking a bit.

Just looking at them makes me wanna throw up napalm on them. A few drops of it even drip out from my mouth. Good thing this helmet covers my face, or else there'd be some concern.

I walk back to the ruined ring to start the match. And vent a little frustration.

Cardin throws his mace over his shoulder as he struts forward. "So, you're some kinda big shot Huntsman, right? You've done a great job of taking care of that trash from earlier, but let's see how you deal with a _real_ Huntsman-in-training!"

… Really? Does he honestly think he's some kinda master Huntsman now, when he couldn't even beat an Ursa by himself? Did something happen these past few days, or am I just crazy? A few cheers come from the crowd. Some sound like they're cheering for Cardin. Most sound like they're me. It's kinda weird after all the boos I got just a week ago.

"Fighters! Please prepare for the match to start!"

The announcement pulls me from my stupor. The enemy team gets into battle formation. If you can call it that. The execution timer starts again.

 _3…._

One breath.

 _2…._

Two breaths.

 _1…._

Three breaths.

 _0!_

The fight starts with Dove and Russel flank my left and right respectively. Sky comes out from behind his leader and tries to charge at me from the front. Russel uses the gun function of his daggers to get several shots on me while Dove draws closer.

The shots are easy to block with the rings barrier around me. Dove tries a sideways slash as he approaches my left. I'm able to duck under it and sweep his legs. Using his own momentum, I throw him at the charging Sky. The dark blue haired boy barely has a second to register what's happening before his own teammate crashes into him.

Seeing his teammates knocked back, Russel charges at me alone. The swipes of his daggers are fast, but predictable. On the last strike he over extends himself, allowing me the chance to land a blow to his exposed stomach. The airs knocked out of him as he flies across the ring.

The two entangled members free themselves and await their leader's order's. This whole time Cardin's been standing in the back, watching his teammates get beaten while he does nothing. He looks frustrated at how badly he's losing and finally decides to do something.

"If you idiots can't take on one guy by yourselves then why are you even here!?" He brings his mace down from his shoulder and gets ready to come at me himself. "If you want something done right then you gotta do it yourself!"

The oaf charges at me with an angry expression. Along the way his remaining two teammates join him in a V formation. As they draw closer I prepare a left hook for the leader. I swing at him when he's within my strike range.

Before my attack can land, something unexpected happens. Cardin grabs Sky from his left and throws him in the way of my punch. The unexpecting boy takes the full brunt of my attack to his face, causing blood to spew from his mouth and knock a few teeth out. He goes sailing past his teammates as they continue their attack.

I feel a blow to my back, shaking me slightly. The attack didn't do much, but it's one of the few good strikes I've received today. Looking over my shoulder I see Dove stumbling back at the ineffectiveness of his attack. I prepare to attack him for that, but I'm stopped by another attack to my ribs.

Cardin used my confusion to land another attack on me. This time it did more than Dove's did, but not by much. I **hated** Cardin before, but after seeing him use his own teammate as a shield, my **rage** is that much more. And the angrier I get, the stronger I get.

I use my back hand to strike at the scared boy behind me. The reassuring crack of his jaw causes me no joy, but maybe this next one will. Now it's Cardin's turn to be on the defensive. After finally accepting the situation he's in he stumbles back, but catches himself before he falls.

"Is that it? Is that all you got?" I sigh disappointedly at his pathetic attempts to fight me. After weeks of dealing with his harassment, I expected him to put up more of a fight. But this? This is just pathetic. "After all that big talk you gave me I thought you could do more. Looks like you were all talk."

Slowly, I pull my fist back to deliver a straight punch to his chest. He tries to use his mace to block the attach, but I easily break through it. My punch sinks into his chest, tearing his armor apart as it pushes through.

Rather than allowing him the _joy_ of taking a free air trip, I continue to push my fist into him and force him to he ground. Like the guy from earlier a crater forms around him. I continue to look him in the eyes for what feels like forever. As I look deeper I notice something. Something that causes me a bit of happiness. I can see his **fear**!

After the absolutely crushing defeat at my hands, he's afraid of the one who did it. He's afraid of _me_. Soon, the color of his eyes fades as he seems to fall unconscious. I stand up after confirming he's beaten and start to head outside the ring.

"Rahhh!"

A sudden shout from my side catches me off. A sudden quick blow to my head almost knocks me off my feet. Since I thought the fight was done I put my barrier down to save energy. With nothing expect my construct to shield me my head rings slightly.

The helmet that I made to hide my face falls to the ground and rolls away. Now there's nothing. There's nothing to hide my face from everyone seeing it.

Realizing that there's no point in worrying about it now, I turn to see the sneak attacker. Russel stands there dumbfounded to my right. He looks me in the eyes before dropping his daggers.

"Y-you?"

He's knocked to the floor with a quick jab to the ribs. The buzzer goes off, announcing everyone on team CRDL's defeat. I look to the helmet on the side of the ring. There's no point in it anymore. My identities already been revealed, no point in it anymore.

I will the construct away and walk off to the side to wait for the new ring to be brought out. Ms. Goodwitch looks at me with a concerned expression before looking down to her monitor.

"We'll take a few minutes to switch out the rings. In the mean time please wait until we start back up."

* * *

 **With Team RWBY and NPR**

… I can't… believe it. It's… him. I only saw it for a second, but I know his face. That light blonde hair, those deep blue eyes, it must be him.

"Guys… is that who I think it is?"

"You have to be seeing things, Yang. There's no way… it's him."

"But you saw him. You saw his face. It has to be him."

They're right. I know they are.

Jaune's alive.


	12. Full Course

**I have returned with a new chapter. The long wait is over. For like a month because I'm going to boot camp in little over a month. Anyways enjoy the chapter. It's gonna be the peak of Jaune's rage for a while.**

 **Light of Remnant**

 **Ch. 12 Full Course**

With the ring being ruined the professors decided to take a short intermission to swap it out. I decided to use this time to grab something to drink. Most of the students, the ones that aren't in the infirmary, remain in their seat except for a few that get up to check on their teammates.

I've discarded the helmet at this point, allowing the construct to fade back into nothing. Ozpin gave me some cash to grab something from the vending machine near the entrance to the locker rooms. I don't know if I'm forming a habit, but I feel like having a beer. Not because I like the taste. More like I need something to clear my head. Not that I think the teachers would like it if I started drinking alcohol while under their watch.

The selection is rather… diverse. I never noticed but why is their only one selection for water and 15 other selections for pop. I get there's a wide selection out there, but this seems excessive. Maybe it's a sponsorship with the different companies. It'd explain how Beacon gets extra funding from more than just the Council.

"Ring, how we lookin on power?"

After such a long use of the ring I got concerned at the power it still had. Running out of power this far away from Ysmault would not be good. Plus, it'd be embarrassing to have to call someone to pick me up. I don't wanna give them any more of a reason to treat me like a kid then they already do.

 **(Power level currently at 23%.)**

23%? I guess that sounds right. I haven't recharged since….. never. The only time my rings actually ever powered up was when I was getting angry. Well, angrier than usual. I'm still spotty on the details on how this ring works exactly anyways. Might need to ask Guy about it when I get back.

"Is everything alright, Mr. Arc?" A voice comes out from the corridor leading back to the arena. The voice belongs to Ms. Goodwitch. "We'll finish having the ring changed out momentarily." She inspects the pad again to reaffirm the progress on the swap. She looks back up to me with concern on her face. "I'll ask again, Mr. Arc. Is everything alright?"

Seems after my little display in the arena she became worried for my mental state. It almost seems funny for the strict teacher I knew only a few weeks ago to show such a face to me. "I'm alright Ms. Goodwitch. Just checking on the power on my ring. Don't want this thing dying on me. If the ring goes, I—"

I stop myself from continuing that thought. I haven't let anyone know that this ring is literally my heart. They're having enough trouble dealing with my recent supposed death. No need to give them even more to deal with.

"What? 'If the ring goes, you'll', what?"

Ms. Goodwitch gives me a suspicious look. Seems she noticed my abrupt stop. "I-If the rings goes, then I don't get a ride back! Haha, ya. That's it. Can't exactly fly back with out this thing, now can I? Ahahahahahaaaa."

Ya, real smooth, Jaune. Not suspicious at allll. The strict professor gives me a suspicious look for before accepting my response. "Yes, I suppose you're correct. It would be rather difficult to travel back to your… home, without a means of transportation. Though wouldn't you be able to contact one of your companions to come and pick you up?"

"Heh, they could, but I'd rather not have them hanging that over my head. They'd probably tease me till I die if I call them because I let my ring die." Though I'd be dead too, so it's not like they'd get it anyways.

"Regardless, if you're having energy concerns, I'm sure Ozpin would understand if you wanted to stop the spars and leave. He wouldn't want to inconvenience you just to give the students a training partner…. Well, more than he already has."

The pad she's holding vibrates as a new notification arrives. She looks it over and puts the pad back by her side. "It would seem they're almost done changing out the ring. Do you still wish to continue with the spars?"

"It's fine. I got plenty of energy left to do a few more fights at least. No need to stop yet. Though I'd probably only be good for another 10 fights or so depending on how much I use."

"Very well then. I'll let Ozpin know. Please return to the arena when you're ready." The professor gives me a nod goodbye and heads back to join the Headmaster.

I wave goodbye to the teacher as her form leaves my sight. It's at that time that I remember why I came out here in the first place. Looking back at my selection I go with a classic Koce. Chances are I won't be able to able to get a soda unless I wanna make my way all the way back here to get one. Unless I wanna get some strange alien disease and try a space soda.

The machine clinks as the soda get's selected. There's a thud from inside and I look down to see the dispenser empty. "Oh, come on. Did this really just happen? Ugh, my luck sucks today." Taking a quick looks no one seems to be around, so I reach up through the machine with a construct to grab the stuck can.

It takes a second to maneuver through the machine, but I can feel a can at the tips of my construct. It's weird that I can feel through my constructs like this. Just another thing to chalk up on questions to ask Guy.

"Almost got it." I'm starting to get a grip on the can now. It's kinda tough but I think I can manage it. "Come on you stupid metal piece of—" The can finally starts to fall after I push it a bit. The refreshing drink finally falls down to the dispenser. "Oh, thank god."

The sweet sound of an open can actually makes my mouth start to water. Never thought I'd be so happy to have a soda before. Maybe it's just nice to have something normal after this past week of bad and worse?

Loud footsteps come from the locker room door next to the machine. Someone bursts through the door and nearly runs into the wall across from it. Bright silver eyes look into mine. Before long they start to tear up as the owner of said eyes runs at me.

"Jaune!" Ruby crashes into me, nearly toppling me over in surprise. "I knew it! I knew it was you!" The younger Beacon student puts her head into my chest and starts to mumble to herself. I'm pretty sure she's sniveling now.

Several more footsteps follow suit as the rest of _**them**_ join us in the hallway. The remaining members of the group each stare at me with varying degrees of shock. Pyrrha and Nora look the most likely to break down into tears, followed by, surprisingly, Ren. The rest of team RWBY, on the other hand, simply seem more stunned at my mere presence.

"Is that… really you Jaune?" Pyrrha slow walks towards me with and out stretched hand reaching for my cheek. "It is you… right?" The hand almost touches my face. Before I slap it away.

"Don't you touch me!" I growl at the red head as she reels back from the rejection. My outburst seems to have shaken the others from their respective stupors. The crying girl on my chest looks up in surprise as I push her away. "You guys aren't supposed to be down here. The matches are about to start again."

"But Jaune! We just wanted to see if it was really you. We thought you were—"

"Dead?" I cut Ruby off before she can finish. "Ya, well, you guys would now that better than others, right? After all, you were the ones that left me behind to die."

Silence returns as they look at me like gaping fish. They seem at a loss for words by my statement. "I'm going back to the arena. They probably swapped out the ring already. Plus, I'd rather be there than here. Bye." The group remains in stunned silence as I leave them. As far as I could tell no one made a move after I left.

' _Damn it! Why did they have to come down and see me!? They should've just stayed in the bleachers and watched with the rest. No point in coming to see me anyways.'_ I try my best to shake off the anger I feel after leaving the group behind. Even as I try my best I can't seem to contain it much. It'd probably be best if I told Ozpin and Ms. Goodwitch about this. Wouldn't want someone to get hurt because I had a breakdown.

' _Definitely don't need a murder charge on my home planet. Would make visits way harder. At least for the kingdoms.'_

When I reenter the arena, I see the new ring's been put in. The professors are standing off to the side going over something when I join them. Ozpin's the first to notice my return at greets me.

"Welcome back, Mr. Arc. Did you enjoy your break?"

"Could've gone better. Had a little run in with some… people."

"… I see. Is everything alright?"

"Ya… for now anyways. Honestly it's probably best that I leave soon. If I stay around too long I feel that things might get out of hand." It's actually sorta embarrassing to tell them this. Makes me feel like a kid telling my parents I'm gonna throw a fit.

"I suppose it would be best not to push the boundaries when we don't have all the information at hand." The cautious Headmaster takes a sip from his mug, which I just noticed he still had. Seriously I don't think he's ever set that thing down since I've been here. "Do you believe you have one more match in you? There are still some students that haven't gotten a chance to test their skills yet."

"Hmm." There's definitely enough power in ring for at least one fight, but it might not be the best idea. Then again, I suppose it couldn't hurt to do one more match. They went to the effort to change out the ring after I broke it in the first place just to continue with these matches. It'd be rude to leave without using it once. "One match, but that's it. Anymore than that and we might be pushing it."

"Alright then. Glynda, would you please inform the students of the change. Let them know the next match will be the last and anyone that wishes to may leave."

Ms. Goodwitch seems hesitant to follow through but does so anyways. While the combat instructor informs the students, Ozpin pulls me aside. "Where exactly are you planning to go after this? If you want I can set up housing in Vale for you if necessary."

"I'm good. I'll be heading back to the Red Lantern base. I've been gone long enough."

"I see." Ozpin takes a moment to ponder this. "When do you believe you'll return?"

"Probably not for a while. A month or so maybe?" With Remnant being outside our sector it probably wouldn't be good to go back and forth too often.

The headmaster silently thinks to himself as Glynda finishes informing the students on the change in plans. "With this being the last fight, I shall accept anyone who wishes to volunteer." The arena's quite for a moment. No one wishes to take the opportunity after seeing how easily team CRDL was dispatched. While they might have been one of the weaker teams due to their lack of good communication, they were still Huntsmen-in-training.

Though it seems that wasn't enough to stop everyone. Two people stand up and volunteer for a match. "Team RWBY/JNPR volunteers!"

Ruby Rose and Pyrrha Nikos announce from the stands. Their fellow teammates have mixed opinions on the sudden situation. Team RWBY looks like they were rather hoping to stay out of this for now while the remains of my _former_ team look to be ready to back up my _ex-_ partner.

Glynda looks over to Ozpin for confirmation on what to do with situation. The Headmaster takes a moment to decide before nodding for Glynda to continue. The participants get the confirmation and make their way to the new arena.

There's whispers and quiet murmurs from the crowd.

"Isn't he the guy that faked his way into Beacon?"

"Maybe that was just a false rumor? It did come from that Winchester kid after all. Not exactly the most believable source."

"Maybe he's a secret agent that was undercover. He did take out several teams by himself after all."

Several more conversations about me go on in the crowd as both teams enter the arena. _'Really? After what I said in the hall you think taking me on in a fight is a good idea?'_ I get up and prepare for the match. _'Well, if they wanna fight then I'll give them one.'_

While the seven others get into fighting position, I create the same sword construct as before. Weiss eyes it suspiciously while the professors get ready over to the side.

"Alright students. Is everyone ready?" Goodwitch looks to us as we all give a nod in approval. "Very well then. Let the last match… Begin!"

A moment passes and no one moves. Then another, and another. This continues on for almost a full minute. It looks like they're waiting for me to make the first move. Team RWBY is spread out at certain points across the ring that there's no way they aren't using some kind of preplanned attack. Meanwhile, my former team is close together directly across from me. Even though I wasn't the strongest fighter amongst them, I can easily say I was the best at tactics and strategy. Which explains why they chose to stay together and look for openings.

Still no one moves and I start to get bored, so I choose to make the first move.

"I'm gonna be honest. I don't know why you all wanted this fight. From our little talk before I'm sure I made it clear I didn't want anything to do with you guys."

They're taken aback by my words and tense up a bit. Pyrrha struggles to speak at first before finally saying something. "We still wanted to talk, and since you left us in the hallway, this seemed to be the best way to do so."

"Hmmm." The grip on my sword starts to tighten as I feel the rage from earlier come back. "Now, that's an odd choice of words. I 'left' you in the hallway. It's kinda ironic really, considering you left me to die back during our mission only a week ago."

The strength in her muscles leaves as she starts to go slack. Pyrrha is at a loss for words from what I said.

"We didn't want to leave!"

This time it's Yang that speaks up, or rather yells at me, from the right side. "We wanted to wait for you, but the pilot started pulling away when you didn't show up fast enough. We tried to get him to go back but he didn't wanna take the chance with the horde closing in."

"So, it was the pilot's fault then? Wow, he must've been one hell of a guy to be able to fight off 7 Huntsmen-in-training and still fly a bullhead properly." The sarcasm is practically dripping from me at this point. "I mean, you did say you did everything you could to stop him, right? You tried to physically stop him, _right_?"

It's not just Pyrrha now who's lost their tension. The other look like they're losing the will to fight before even throwing a single punch. More murmurs come from the crowd, but I'm too busy trying to suppress my anger to listen.

The first one to get back into a fighting pose is Weiss. She seems to have shaken off my retort fairly easily. Makes since, she did always seem to hate me. I know it was stupid to keep trying to get her to go out with me, but still, all I wanted was a chance.

"If we had come back, we would have risked not just our life, but the life of the staff on board. Along with the pilot were two medical assistants, none of whom had any combat capability."

She's right of course. The staff on board weren't meant to fight, and I didn't expect them too either. "Still though. There was 7 of you and 3 other people. You could've had 3 of you protect just them and the others to hold of the incoming Grimm." Weiss looks like she wants to respond, but I cut her off. "But enough about that. Let's just get to the fighting. We've been talking so long I think the crowds about to fall asleep."

The others were shaken from their stupor and get back into their fighting positions. Before they get a chance to regain coherence, I charge at the nearest opponent to me. Blake.

The black themed girl of RWBY might have been caught off guard by my sudden burst of speed, but her experience, along with my lack of such, allowed her to narrowly dodge my initial strike. But only the one she saw.

As I come down with my sword she jumps to my right, allowing me to follow up with a blast from my ring. The concussive force is strong enough to blow her back and almost out of the ring if not for Ruby catching her and digging her scythe into the ground to stop them.

While I try to pull my sword out, I hear something approach from behind. Looking back, I see Weiss sliding on a sheet of ice, her rapier poised to strike. I don't have time to bring my sword around so I drop the construct and change my focus to defense by reinforcing my arm guards.

The princess delivers a barrage of thrusts. From the way she's attacking she seems to be trying to probe my defenses for weaknesses. A few of her strikes get past my guard and scratch my cheeks, but no real damage is taken thanks to the barrier from the ring.

Eventually the barrage ends as she wears herself down and has to stop. Weiss tries to jump back and gain some distance between us, but I don't let her. As she jumps, I create a wall behind her and stop her movements.

Too surprised from the sudden introduction of the wall she's stopped long enough for me to counter attack. This time I create a battering ram with smiley face at the end and ram it into Weiss, crashing her through the wall for added damage.

*BEEP*

An alarm sounds as Weiss careens backwards. Up on the monitor it shows that her Aura has gone into the red from that single attack. Her team is thrown into slight disarray from the sudden defeat of their teammate.

While they try and regroup, NPR make their move. Ren flanks to my right, firing a hail of bullets as he does so. While I'm distracted by the opponent to my right, Nora fires some of her grenades at me. The first two blow up next to me, throwing my balance off a bit while the last hits me square in the chest.

Even with Aura I feel like that blast would've done a huge amount of damage. Luckily, I have something better then Aura now. The impact sends me onto my back while the dust covers me. As I lay on the ground, I notice the gap between the dust and ground and see the locations of the others.

Pyrrha's standing near the cloud while Nora and Ren stand off to the sides a ways back providing cover. _'Okay, gotta use this to my advantage.'_

Using some creative thinking I make a pair of ankle cuffs with a chain connected to my wrist and send it to Pyrrha's ankles. As soon as the cuffs close around her legs I pull and drag her into the cloud. After I get some slack I start to spin and use my former partner as an impromptu flail.

As I spin the cloud clears and I see Ren and Nora on either side of me. I continue to spin and catch Nora, and soon Ren, in my spin cycle. I get another full rotation in before something hits me in my side. It's hard to tell from the spinning, but it looks like Ruby took a shot at me with her sniper.

' _Seems RBY regrouped. No idea if they have a plan but it's best to attack while I have the momentum.'_

The shot from before threw me off enough to make me lose some speed and the force I had on the chain. Before the others get loose, I try my best to aim it at Ruby and release it. _'Best to take out the leader while I can.'_ My aim was a little off as the end with Pyrrha on it lands to her left, but the part with Ren and Nora is able to wrap around and crash into her.

A quick glance at the monitor shows that my attack did some damage. Pyrrha has a fifth of her Aura gone while Nora and Ruby have about 40% left each. Seems that catching Blake did some damage. Speaking of Blake, she's sitting at about 30 %. She's almost out. Ren, on the other hand...

*BEEP*

The buzzer announces Ren's defeat in the fight. Given that he had the lowest Aura in the group I figured he'd be out from a good hit or two from my constructs. The only problem I figured I'd have was trying to hit him. He is pretty nimble, like Blake, but I got the jump on her to deal any damage.

"Ren!"

Nora gets up and runs over to the downed ninja. She looks him over and seems relieved at his condition. A purple glow covers Ren as he's slowly lifted up. "Please step away from Mr. Ren, Ms. Valkyrie. With his Aura gone it would be dangerous for him to remain in the ring." Ren is carried over to the side of the arena and placed on a medical hammock next to Weiss. "The match can resume. If you all wish to continue that is."

There's a grunt from the edge of the ring as Pyrrha starts to get up. "N-No!" She uses Milo as a crutch as she tries to stand. "We can keep fighting ma'am. Please don't let this fight end." Her breath is somewhat ragged and rough. Though she still has plenty of Aura I'm sure taking that big of a hit knocked the wind out of her.

Ms. Goodwitch looks over the remaining participants and nods. "Very well. Match shall continue." She steps away from the ring and returns to her position.

With the match resumed we all get back into position to fight. Nora is standing where Ren was next to Ruby with Pyrrha on the other side of her to my left. Blake's across from me holding her stomach in the spot the blast caught her. It's then that I realize something.

' _Where's Yang?'_

As if on que my whole world turns sideways. I fall down onto my side in a slight daze. There standing over me is a very angry looking Yang. "Not so tough now, are ya?" She goes in for a kick to my head, but I'm able to catch it. With her leg in my grasp she tries to struggle at first, but I throw her leg to the side and create a spring underneath my back to launch me at her.

With her balance off kilter I'm able to get a good hit in on her stomach and another to the side of her head to launch her back. As she falls back, I think I see a glint of something gold falling down from where she was, but it's hard to tell. She takes the hit better then Weiss did, but she's still knocked on her butt. Another glance at the monitor shows she has between 40 to 50% left. Seems she's built tougher then Weiss.

The others don't have much left in them to fight. And considering my ring is acting as my shield they must be thrown through a loop as to how my meter is still full. Ruby is talking to Pyrrha about something by the side while also signaling to Blake. Pyrrha nods her head before turning to Nora.

"Nora, like in initiation."

Seems the hammer wielder gets what she's saying as she runs over to her friend who's crouching down with her shield held up.

' _If they're doing what I think they're doing then…'_

As the two get ready, Blake throws Yang her sword with her ribbon extended and mimics my move from earlier by spinning her around with Yang, whose hair was now on fire, was using the force from her shotgun blasts to speed herself up.

' _Seems they're finally working together.'_ Not a bad move, they'd probably be able to do some serious damage with this combo. ' _But this still won't be enough.'_

Nora finally reaches Pyrrha and is launched into the air. While she ascends Ruby throws her one of her sniper bullets. It's hard to tell from here but it looks like it might be a dust shell. Nora catches the bullet and crushes it in her hands immediately. Lightning sparks out of her hand and starts to cover her.

' _Well that's… new.'_

I don't have time to think about it as Nora starts to descend on me. At the same time Yang lets go of the ribbon and launches herself at me. With the two heavy hitters from NPR and RWBY about to bear down on me I have very little down to react so I have to go with a simpler response.

Bulk up and block.

By channeling my power into the gauntlets, they begin to bulk up. Their appearance changes too as they no longer have the dark red color the armor usually has but instead the bright red color of the constructs.

The clash finally comes to ahead as the two attacks hit simultaneously. A great amount of dust is kicked up and the ground beneath me cracks and breaks from the force of the impacts. The members not attacking are bombarded by debris flying at they and take some noticeable hits.

I, meanwhile, stand there in the center holding the flat end of Nora's hammer and Yang's fist in either hand. Both stare dumbfounded at the lack of damage from their attacks. Nora hangs limply from her hammer, not even touching the ground, and Yang looks like she's about to collapse.

"H-H-How…?"

I will admit, I feel a weird sense of joy at seeing her face in such a look of complete shook and… **fear.** More so on the shook then fear though. I caulk a cocky smirk and look at my fellow blond. "I guess… You're not so tough now, are ya?"

And with that I fling Yang at Blake and Nora into Ruby and Pyrrha. Pyrrha is able to dodge her teammates body, but Ruby isn't so lucky and the red and pink girls fall out of the ring. While that's happening, Yang crashes into her partner. They don't go sailing out of the ring, but instead skip across the ground.

*BEEP*

"Nora Valkyrie, Ruby Rose, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao-Long have been eliminated."

A glow covers Blake and Yang and starts to hover them to the medical beds along with Nora and Ruby. 6 of the 7 members of the group that came in are gone now. Now, only the champion remains.

Pyrrha stands across the ring and stares at me with a look of hurt and sorrow. Her legs are trembling, but not in fear. Out of the corner of her eye there's a sheen as a tear falls down her check. "Why… why do you have to fight us like this? We were supposed to be working together. We were supposed to be a team. We were supposed to be friends…"

"Friends…? we were supposed to be… friends?"

 **(Power level 24%. 25%. 26%.)**

My ring announces my power level rising. Along with my rage.

"DON'T YOU DARE CALL US FRIENDS! NOT AFTER YOU LEFT ME! NOT AFTER YOU ABANDNED ME TO DIE! NOT AFTER YOU LEFT ME FOR WEEKS WHILE I WAS INSULTED AND ABUSED. IT'D BE DIFFERENT IF WE WERE JUST STRANGERS, BUT DON'T YOU DARE CALL US FRIENDS. BECAUSE WE'RE NOT!"

My power level keeps rising higher and higher. I can't hear the ring anymore, but I can sure feel the power.

"IF YOU WERE MY FRIEND THEN YOU WOULD'VE LISTENED TO ME INSTEAD OF JUST RUNNING AWAY AND IGNORING ME. AND NOW… Now… you guys are just people who bring up bad memories."

Pyrrha drops her sword and shield and falls to her knees crying. She doesn't have the will power to fight anymore. I turn around and start to leave. "This match is over. She doesn't wanna fight anymore. And, frankly, neither do I." As I exit the arena, I give one last look to Ozpin. "I'm heading home Ozpin. I'll see you later."

The headmaster gives a curt nod and watches me leave. "Very well then, Mr. Arc. Have a safe trip home."

A quick walk through the halls and I'm back at the courtyard. I'm too angry to even bother to see if anyone's around and start to fly back to Ysmault.

* * *

 **2814, Ysmault**

After returning to the Kaalvar I notice Skallox outside messing with some sorta large device and Zox working on something under the ship. I don't see Rankorr or Bleeze any where but I'm sure that's fine. There's no one here for Bleeze to kill other then us so it'd make a bigger commotion if she was trying to.

A quick look around the ship and I find Guy on a computer in the communications room. I give a quick rasp on the door and announce myself. "Honey, I'm home."

Guy turns around and gives me a wave. "Welcome back. You have a good trip."

"Eh, it was alright. Saw the family, told them I wasn't dead. Saved a few kids, got a kiss from a pretty girl. Pretty great over all."

"Oh ho," With a little wiggle of his eyebrows Guy walks over and slings his arm over my shoulder. "Kissed a pretty girl did ya? Well I'd count that as a good trip."

After throwing his arm off I take the seat next to Guy's. "Hey, so, I realized while I was gone that I really don't know much about the Red Lantern Corps. Or any Corps. for that matter… or the universe as a whole."

Guy sits back down and takes a sip from a drink he had. "You gotta point. Guess I should probably give you a crash course on some of it. The rest you can figure out either by experience or asking your ring."

"Speaking of the ring. I don't know how to use it too well either. Is there anything you could show me? Like some tricks or tips?"

Almost sagely my ring senior sets down his glass. "Do you know how long I've waited for someone to teach them the ways of ringslinging?"

"I don't really kno—"

"FOR years I have wait to pass on my knowledge to a foolish and inexperienced newbie. And now… there's one standing right before me."

"I'm technically sitting actually—"

"Shhhh." Guy shoves a finger against my lips in silence. "Don't get caught up on the semantics. For now, you will be under the tutelage of one of the greatest lanterns of all time. Guy 'The Warrior' Gardner." To emphasize his excitement, he throws his arm around me again, this time with more strength, as he looks off into space.

"… I'm gonna face a lot of explosions and pain, aren't I?"

"Oh ya."


End file.
